


The Dragon and The Golden Baby

by jolly_love



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Baby Harry, Draco Malfoy is a Good Parent, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Is Alive, Except Dumbledore and Sirius, F/M, Feel-good, Fluff and Angst, Good Slytherins, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Post-War, Protective Slytherins, Raising Harry Potter, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-02-22 10:09:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 90
Words: 173,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22681174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jolly_love/pseuds/jolly_love
Summary: Something goes wrong in potions class: Finnigan messes up and Potter is accidentally turned back into a baby. Well sucks for him, right? Bad enough that his magic tells everyone that Draco is supposed to take care of him. How should he take care of his enemy?! He’s a baby!-----Just so you know: I say ‘Enemies to Friends to Lovers’ – Draco is NOT a child molester. So if you’re scared that would happen in this story: Never! It’s supposed to be a lovely and feel good story.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Pansy Parkinson
Comments: 1424
Kudos: 2398
Collections: Harry Potter Favs





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly did not want to start a new story...  
> But this plot bunny came and told me to sit down and start writing the first chapter. So here it is.
> 
> I had also always wanted to write a story with Snape and Fred being alive and I think I managed to get quite a good idea. Also, I can’t believe that I’m writing with children again. It was so hard with my last longer story where Harry adopted Teddy and now I’m back with this again…
> 
> Well, I like the idea, so here we go. It’s supposed to be a fluff story, so I hope you’ll like it :)

It was glorious. Watching Potter and his gang trying to move on and somehow accomplish something in their normal daily lives as Hogwarts students after they had somehow successfully beaten the Dark Lord and his army was glorious. Draco had for the fifth time only in this hour shared an amused glance with Pansy and Blaise when Potter had flinched because of even the smallest noise.

Professor Snape also hadn’t been the nicest to them, as they were doing an explosive potion. One wrong ingredient and the whole cauldron could literally explode. Draco had already a bet running with basically everyone of Slytherin that either Potter or Finnigan would be exploding their potions today. Other people were betting on Longbottom or Granger, while others thought that Weasley looked a little too confident.

Not even half an hour in and Draco had carefully added some dried Unicorn blood, when a loud noise – sounding almost ten times worse than when a house elf would appear – made everyone look back and see Finnegan staring at his potion. In the dim light of the dungeon’s light source, the Gryffindor looked as if he had seen a ghost for the first time in his life.

“I have no idea what just happened” he said wide eyed. Draco grinned, while Potter stared down at his now wet clothes. He was dripping wet and shook his head to get some of the fluid out of his hair. It did look a little straighter, not that it was wet. Draco smirked.

Potter turned to his fellow Gryffindor with narrowed eyes. “Seamus, what the fuck are you doing?! Do you even know what you’ve just drenched me with?!”

Severus walked through the lines, shaking his head. “Language Potter. Twenty points from Gryffindor. Mr. Finnigan, fifty points from Gryffindor for the cauldron. Clean up your mess.”

Draco smirked and turned back to his own potion, not wanting it to end up just as Finnigan’s had, when he heard a few people arguing. When he turned back, he saw his godfather frowning at Potter, who had turned a little whiter.

Severus turned to Finnigan with raised eyebrows. “Care to explain why you would add Granian Hair to this potion?”

Blaise next to Draco scoffed and grinned at him, when he added some more Unicorn blood. Draco however frowned. Granian Horses had the ability to instead of getting older, getting younger. If they weren’t happy with the life they had lived, they could simply return to a point where they thought everything went wrong and start anew. It made it easy for the Department of whatever it was called to see whether or not a breeder was doing a good job.

Finnigan shrugged his shoulders, though seemed a little bit scared or unsure. “It said Thestral hair, Professor, but there were none left. So I though another horse’s hair would do and…”

“Do you honestly believe that, should that have been the case, it would have specified it to be Thestral hair?”

Draco turned to look at Theodore who had snatched all the Thestral hairs as fast as he could after all the Slytherins had gotten their share. Some Gryffindors had still gotten some hair, but apparently the worst person in potions hadn’t been so lucky.

Before Finnigan could answer Severus, another noise tore everyone’s attention away from them and towards Weasley who groaned in frustration as he stared at his broken cauldron and wet table. It was absolutely stunning: his book was dripping wet and all of his ingredients and the ones from Granger were now unusable. “Bloody hell! This damn thing is impossible!”

“Language, Weasley! Twenty points from Gryffindor!”

Draco chuckled as quietly as he could, turned back to his cauldron and started adding the Thestral hair one by one. He caught Pansy walking over to Theodore and asking somewhat loudly for another Thestral hair, since she apparently ‘hadn’t gotten one’.

Suddenly, there was silence from the back and the Slytherins turned around to look at Potter looking a little shorter than usual. Severus stared at him and when the Gryffindor looked up there was something like panic in his eyes.

“I see” Severus said somewhat quietly and looked at him a little weirdly. It had happened a few times already. Ever since the war, they looked as if they had bonded over something and Draco was sure that something had happened when only the two of them were together. However, Severus refused to tell him and he couldn’t really go and ask Potter.

Their professor turned back to the class and said loudly “Class dismissed. Leave now!” He cast a protective spell over each cauldron and motioned them all to leave. Draco shrugged his shoulders and followed his friends to their Common Room. Since it was their last lesson of the day, they could now wait for dinner to arrive.

When he looked back before he had turned around the corner, he saw Severus motioning Potter to walk towards the Hospital Wing. Apparently, there actually was something in Finnigan’s potion that wasn’t supposed to be there. Draco smirked as he entered the Common Room and accepted the money from his friends.

At dinner, neither Potter nor Severus showed up. Neither did McGonagall or Madam Pomfrey. The staff table looked a little empty that way, though Draco didn’t care much. The food was delicious, the company fine and not having to see Potter during dinner made him grin widely. Most Slytherins were just talking about stupid things and Draco only listened with one ear when Severus suddenly stood in front of him.

“Draco, follow me please.”

Frowning, he got up and followed his godfather’s quick paste towards the Hospital Wing. “Severus, what’s going on?” he asked curiously. He never received an answer and he also hadn’t thought that his godfather would be answering him. He seemed somehow deep in thought.

When they reached the hallway that led towards the Hospital Wing, Draco frowned. Was there a baby crying? It was loud, annoying and he generally hated it. Yet, Severus walked forward as if he hadn’t heard it and Draco decided to follow him, mentally trying to think about whose child it could be.

When Severus opened the door, Draco found a large group of Adults trying to calm down the crying baby, of which Draco hadn’t gotten a good look. McGonagall turned around and seemed relieved at the sight of Draco.

“Mr. Malfoy, thank you for being here. I thought we would never calm him down.”

Draco shook his head, not really understanding. “I’m sorry, what? What is going on?”

Severus sighed, as the baby slowly calmed down. “You see, Finnigan’s potion hit Potter from head to toe. Since it had Granian Hairs inside, it reversed Potter’s age and he’s now…”

Madam Pomfrey interrupted Severus and walked over quickly to Draco who was first of all surprised why they would tell him that and second of all… loving everything here. Potter was a baby!?

“Mr. Potter’s age is reversed to when he felt his life fall apart. Unsurprisingly, it was when he was fifteen months old and he is now around ten months old. However, his mind is still working fine and didn’t get any damage” she explained.

Draco frowned slightly. “O…kay? Why would you tell me that? Isn’t there someone else who would need this information? His friends maybe?”

McGonagall walked closer and seemed a little upset. She was holding a scroll and magically opened it in front of Draco. “Madam Pomfrey did a ‘Magical Guardian’s Test’. His magic chose you as his guardian.”

Time seemed to stop, while Draco tried to process this new information. “You’re kidding right? This is all just an elaborate prank of some sorts and…”

“The test is genuine. No one could interrupt it and it was his magic that chose you. I doubt Potter would want to be raised by you voluntarily” Severus said and Draco thought he had heard a small amount of accusations in there, though nobody seemed to hear it.

McGonagall agreed with his godfather and added: “I would have gladly given Miss Granger or Mr. Weasley the obligation to look after their friend, however, the Magical Guardian’s Test has the highest power. So, until he’s reached his actual age again, you’re his guardian.”

Draco raised his shoulders somewhat in despair. “I don’t want to be his guardian! I don’t even want children! How am I supposed to take care of something so…”

“Watch it, Draco” Severus interrupted him and Draco sighed. Yes, there was no other choice. He had to take baby Potter and somehow take care of a baby.

Madam Pomfrey came over and handed him a small booklet. “Here are some handy spells for taking care of a baby. Changing diapers without having to smell, look or touch anything, the right temperature for any kind of food, food and drinks working for what ages and what he should be able to do on what age.”

Draco stared at the booklet and then back at the baby who was by now asleep. He groaned in defeat. “Okay. How long is this going to take?”

“Since he went back over twenty years, you have your work cut out for you, Mr. Malfoy” Madam Pomfrey explained. “The first month is going to be an adjustment for both of you. He will only age one year during this time period. If you’re doing a good job, the speed accelerates and he ages one year in one week. If he doesn’t feel save, he will take one month to age a year.”

Frowning slightly, Draco calculated. “So… If I’m doing a good job in… raising Potter” he closed his eyes, shaking his head about the sentence he had just said, “he should be his normal age in twenty two weeks or… almost half a year…”

Everyone in the room was silent for a few moments and Draco felt himself tense up. WHY?! Why did something like that happen to him?! That was absolutely stupid!

“Exactly” McGonagall said, though clearly she had heard this information for the first time today. “Madam Pomfrey will need to have him checked regularly; she’ll tell you when you have to be back with your ward. For now, I have enlarged your room and tasked the elves with putting a crib in there. Maybe you should spend a little time with your ward and try to get to know him.”

When Madam Pomfrey handed him the sleeping baby Harry, Draco could see Severus narrowing his eyes. As he left the Hospital Wing, he knew that his godfather was following him. Sure enough, as he turned around, Severus stood there, frowning at him.

“Do not hurt him, Draco.”

“Why do you even care? What’s in it for you here?”

Not answering any of Draco’s questions, Severus looked a little tense. “Do _not_ hurt him.”


	2. Chapter 2

When Draco entered the Common Room, he was welcomed by a few glances from friends, a short silence and then a bunch of girls cooing over Baby Potter. Well, they didn’t know it was Potter, so Draco felt just slightly better. And it wasn’t just girls, soon even the boys had formed a circle around Draco and tried to get a good look at the baby.

“Out of my way, you idiots!” Draco said slightly distressed and rolled his eyes, before making his way to his friends at the very end of their Common Room. There, in the corner slightly blocked by some book cases was a couch, two arm chairs and a small coffee table.

Pansy had organized this way before everything had started going downhill and they had used it to study for their OWLs. Even though they were in the Common Room and somehow knew what was going on, they were still separate and could talk without being bothered. Now they had all started to enjoy it over there, isolated from the other Slytherins. While some could have argued that they were aiming to be superiors through this, most knew that they had a very tight friendship and preferred to stay with each other.

Blaise and Theodore were currently arguing over their Astronomy homework, when Draco sat down and placed Potter next to him on the couch. Pansy leaned at the back rest of her arm chair with closed eyes, only being part of the discussion should one party somehow fail to see the other’s perspective. Millicent looked up from her homework and frowned slightly.

“What’s this?” she asked curiously.

Draco smirked. “It’s called a baby, Mil. This happens when a man and women really love…”

Millicent slapped her Transfiguration homework over his head and rolled her eyes. “Why do you have a baby and whose is it? Are you now a father? Why didn’t McGonagall take it and give it to the grandparents to raise or something?”

By now, Blaise, Theodore and Pansy had stopped talking and looked at Draco and then baby Potter. Draco sighed. “Long story short: Finnigan’s potion was very wrong and turned Potter into a baby and I’m now his magical guardian.”

It was quiet for quite some time. Everyone in close proximity looked as if Draco had just told them that… well, that Potter was now a baby and he was his magical guardian. Clearly not believing a thing. Silence reigned over them until Pansy started laughing loudly. “Oh Merlin! I’m going to need that whole story, because this could just as well be the summary of a dream I had two days ago. Come on, Draco. Out with it!”

So, Draco complied and told his friends what had happened and how long this was going to last. Also, apparently, since he was in Slytherin, Potter was allowed to stay with him. Draco wasn’t really happy about it, but maybe he could somehow take Potter’s memories of the place when he was older. Once he had finished his fairy tale, everyone seemed gobsmacked.

“Can’t they do anything to reverse it with some spell or so? Surely there has to be some sort of magical help!” Millicent asked and frowned slightly, looking at Potter. “I mean he’s cute and all, but I really don’t want him to be around us.”

Draco nodded. “I know what you mean, but no. Apparently, all you can do with the consumption of Granian Hair is to wait for it to be over. Nobody has ever gotten younger more than ten years, so for Potter to de-age twenty is highly unusual.”

Pansy grinned. “It’s Potter, Draco. When has he ever done something usual?”

While the others laughed, Theodore was frowning at the baby and finally said what was on his mind: “If I were you, I would go through the history of how he grew up. I’ve had this thing once happening to a cousin of mine and apparently you go through all the states of what you’ve felt through this age.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Come on, Theo, it’s _Saint Potter_. What do you think he went through?! A lot of ‘getting what he wants’ and ‘Gryffindor is the best house there is’ most likely.” It was probably not fair to reduce Potter to something like this, but he honestly thought that Potter had a sacred childhood. So what really was there to go through?!

His friend shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just saying: if he’s not yet gone through the death of his parents… you have to be prepared.”

Sighing, Draco stared at Theodore. “Then why didn’t Pomfrey or anybody actually tell me about this?!”

Theodore shrugged his shoulders again. There seemed to be a lot theory going around. “As Pansy said, we’re talking about Potter not anybody else. I doubt that even his friends know everything he went through.”

Millicent looked at Potter and smiled then suddenly. “To be honest, I have never seen a baby calmer than him.”

“When I went into the Hospital Wing he was actually screaming like crazy” Draco smirked and looked at the calmly sleeping Potter. It was _crazy_! This whole situation was fucked up.

Pansy smirked and sat up straighter, finally looking like an actual human being again not a bag full of potatoes. “Draco, we should start with some information: How old is he and what are babies in his age supposed to be able to do already?”

Luckily, Draco hadn’t needed to look far. The booklet, which Pomfrey had given him, coincidentally (or maybe not) stated a few things, which Draco was reading out aloud for his friends to hear.

> **Your baby is 10 months old**
> 
> Your baby has reached the 10 month marker, which means he or she should be able to physically pick up things with a pincer grasp (thumb and pointy finger). The baby should also be capable of crawling around rather well and in some instances can cruise along the furniture.
> 
> Cruising is the last step of the journey to walking independently. The baby will hold onto furniture to stabilize him or herself and to get a feeling for the balance act of walking.
> 
> Half of all the babies this age can already distinguish between daddy and mommy and call them accordingly, though not with whatever name they call themselves (mostly dada and mama). They can also point at distant objects out of reach and even indicate what they would like to have through rough movements. Importantly, they also learn the meaning of ‘No’ in this age. Do be careful with this word, though, and use it only when absolutely necessary.

Draco sighed and threw the book onto the table, rolling his eyes. “It’s like I have a dog.”

Blaise smirked. “A very dependent dog.”

Millicent snorted. “A dog with diapers that you’ll need to change.”

“Is there more?” Pansy asked, clearly curious and grabbed the book, reading the last paragraph for every one of them.

> Advanced baby skills include being able to drink from a cup and not a bottle. The babies also manage to stand alone for a couple of seconds, before falling down again and they can put objects into a container.

Theodore snickered. “Draco, did you hear? Potter can put objects into a box!” He said it as if it was a surprise to everyone that the savior was able to do something. His friends laughed, though Draco didn’t join them.

In fact, he actually just started to realize what was going to happen in the next few months… He would be needing this booklet very much, he was sure of it.

“So, what happens now?” Millicent asked thoughtfully.

Draco sighed. “Tomorrow, I have a meeting with McGonagall and Severus. We’re supposed to talk over how I am supposed to go through my last Hogwarts year with an actual baby accompanying me. Severus said something about a private tutor for half of the courses, but we’ll see about it.”

Pansy widened her eyes. “You’re not going to leave us, right?! We’ve just started eighth year! You can’t just leave us after not even two months!”

“I won’t leave!” Draco said happily. Though in his mind, he knew that there was absolutely no place he could go to should he have to leave Hogwarts. That was the only reason why he had accepted the McGonagall’s letter for the eighth year. At least with that he had a year left to make something great and get a job, a home and a life. And now fucking Potter had to come and say ‘not with me’. It was always Potter.

Draco sighed and carefully grabbed baby Potter again. “Well, I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Sleep tight everyone. I’m pretty sure I won’t.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been posting for every day now. Tomorrow you won't be so lucky, I'm working from morning to evening. But maybe you'll get another chapter on Sunday :)
> 
> Snape is slightly ooc, sorry about that (but in reality he's dead, so... not so sorry :P )

Draco felt something like jealousy bubble under the surface, when he saw how easy it seemed for Severus to get along with baby Potter. This morning, he had spent hours figuring out how the spell worked to make the mess disappear, and only a very old house elf had finally been able to teach him how. Only after Pansy had finally told him to _get some fucking help_.

Potter didn’t seem to like him now that he had kind of left him with an uncomfortable kind of mess for so long. Not that Draco did care much. However now, Severus was actually sitting on a chair inside the playpen which was situated in McGonagall’s office, while baby Potter was crawling around him and sometimes even trying to stand up, holding on tightly to the Potion’s professor. He was behaving weirdly and Draco thought that there were some emotions on his face, which was definitely not true, right?!

There were some questions in Draco’s mind right now: Why was Severus so friendly to baby Potter? Why was Potter absolutely not fazed by being close to someone like him? His godfather had tormented him for the better part of his life. Once again, he was thinking about how after the Battle of Hogwarts, these two seemed to be so close. Closer somehow than he had been to Severus himself. It hurt really badly and made Draco hate Harry even more.

However, looking at the happily squealing baby made it really hard to be mad at him. Well, Draco could still try.

Finally, after about ten minutes of tense silence and only baby Potter’s weird inhuman-like noises and Severus’ irrational chuckles, McGonagall entered the room, followed by Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey.

“Hello Mr. Malfoy” Madam Pomfrey greeted him and smiled at him encouragingly. “Did you get a little sleep last night?”

Draco smiled weakly. “I did, thank you.” Truth be told, he had put up a silencing charm over Potter, which either wasn’t strong enough or he had dropped sometime during the night, since he woke up to the baby screaming around three a.m. His damn guilty conscience hadn’t let him go back to sleep after, and he had decided not to do this stupid thing again.

Severus got up and walked through the gate, while Potter actually pouted over the loss of his playing friend. He sat down on his arse and stared daggers into the back of Severus’ head, until he turned around and somehow created an old-looking teddy bear which made baby Potter clearly incredibly happy. The teddy bear was yellow and looked incredibly soft, with a fire red bow tie and a green knitted jacket firmly locked in place. Potter was now actually laughing over the bear.

McGonagall chuckled and nodded, before she turned to Draco. “I’ve talked to the other professors, Malfoy. Professor Babbling would prefer for you to be part of her Studies of Ancient Runes classes and Professor Sinistra believes as well that you would learn more in her classes than learning Astronomy by yourself.”

Draco nodded. So he needed to go to two classes with baby Potter. He was really hoping that his nemesis wasn’t going to act up in there.

Since he wasn’t saying anything, the Headmistress continued. “Professor Snape will be handling your private Potion’s lessons as well as Charms. I will be giving you some private lessons in Transfigurations as well as Herbology. That should cover everything. Is there something else you’d like to learn or is that everything for now?”

It was okay for now. Maybe being tutored by Snape gave him another possibility to bond with him. Draco confirmed that he was happy with it and then looked curiously at Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout. He was briefly wondering why they had been here, when the mediwitch spoke up.

“Should Mr. Potter need anything, make sure to come by! Professor Sprout is growing some plants that may help in reducing the time he will need to grow up. And I would like to have you visit with him when you think he’s going through the time where his parents died. For now he looks healthy, but there was also nothing wrong when he was ten months old”, she explained.

Draco agreed. “How do I know if he’s going through this time in his life?” he asked, looking at Potter. The Gryffindor had lost interest in his teddy bear and was crawling around the edge of his ‘prison’ either looking for something interesting outside or actively trying to get out of it. Draco was somehow sure it was the latter.

“We don’t know” McGonagall said. “I believe you will find out yourself.”

That was helpful… Draco almost rolled his eyes at her, but caught himself at the very last second. Before he could comment on it, Madam Pomfrey luckily spoke again. “You can always come by when you think he’s getting towards that age. We can do a test and it will show whether or not he’s reached that age.”

“And you can’t show me that test?” Draco asked frowning.

“I’d rather not, Mr. Malfoy. It’s High Magic and could when used often damage a child’s brain” the mediwitch explained.

Well, Draco wasn’t really sure what he should say now. On one hand, it would be fun to damage Potter’s brain even more, but on the other… he was a baby! And he felt guilt creep up on him. Again. Looking back at the baby cuddling with the teddy bear, Draco had to swallow hard.

What was going on?! His own mind was confused and he wasn’t sure whether he thought baby Potter was actually cute or just really annoying. But right now, when he was holding the teddy bear, grinning broadly, he almost seemed like any other human being.

After McGonagall handed Draco his new and slightly improved timetable, he grabbed Potter and walked towards the dungeons. Since it was in the middle of breakfast, almost no one was around and Draco managed to avoid each and every Gryffindor who was weirdly enough scattered around the hallways.

When he had almost reached the dungeons, he heard footsteps behind him and sure enough – once again – Severus had gotten a hold of him and motioned for him to take the teddy bear. Draco sighed and shook his head.

“Severus, we need to talk.”

His godfather looked at him with his neutral mask perfectly stable, when he nodded and they both made their way into the Potion Master’s office. Everything looked the same: neutral, clean, neat… Except for one thing. Draco was caught off guard by a playpen standing in the corner of the room.

Wordlessly, Draco placed baby Potter inside and looked at Severus, not really sure what to believe anymore. Severus seemed so natural with baby Potter even though he had clearly hated him when they were in school (or rather a little younger than now).

“I have a feeling that you know more about Potter being a baby than you want people to believe”, Draco said and sat down at the opposite side of his godfather.

Severus nodded slowly. “Well, you see. When he was younger, his m…”

Draco didn’t wait for him to finish, even though he was hurting his etiquette slightly. “I don’t care about what happened when he was young, Severus. I want to know why you have a teddy bear for him, why you in fact have a playpen in here and why you actually care for Potter!”

His godfather sighed. “For that to know, I do have to tell you about his past or rather mine. Lily, his mother, had finally gotten us fools – by that I mean her husband and me – to talk to each other. We weren’t friends, by no means but she wanted us to at least be able to be in a room without trying to kill each other. Lily took Potter to meet me a few times before they died and every time I gave him this teddy bear to play with.”

He motioned to the teddy bear, which Potter was once again hugging closely and he squealed happily when he seemed to realize that Draco and Severus looked at him. It almost made Draco smile over the enthusiasm the little man showed. Almost. It was still Potter. And Potter was still annoying as nothing else. An annoying little shit.

When Draco turned back to his godfather, there was an actual genuine smile! Baby Potter had seriously messed with Severus’ head.

“As for the playpen, I believe it is here for whenever we have a private lesson so that you can take Potter with you but he can’t just wander off and accidentally touch something dangerous.”

Draco frowned. “Since when do you care, Severus?! I remember how you once wanted Potter to do something stupid so you can take away house points from him!”

His godfather nodded. “I know. Some things, Draco, are beyond your understanding of things. And this thing is between Potter and me.”

With that he nodded at Draco and seemed to have turned back into the old Severus, turning away and getting some essays to work on. Silently, Draco shook his head and grabbed Potter (and the teddy bear) and walked to the kitchen to get something to eat.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pansy might be the first to fall over Harry :P

The house elves were hard at work when Draco entered the kitchen. However, none seemed to care that he had entered their territory. They were used to him, since he sometimes sat there, at the very back, when he wasn’t in the mood to deal with the world. And well, since it was in the middle of breakfast, they had a lot to do and generally no time to try and talk to him. That was exactly what he was looking for.

Sitting down on the small bench, he placed Potter next to himself. The baby was cuddling the teddy and observing the busy kitchen quite curiously. He squealed happily and somewhat excited, when a house elf sent up food to the tables.

Draco groaned and shook his head. How was he supposed to deal with Potter and his own personal problems, while studying for his N.E.W.T.s?! Potter had already been an inconvenience when he wasn’t a baby and now that he was… His life couldn’t get worse.

After a few moments in which Draco felt incredibly sorry for himself, the door opened again and Pansy looked inside, before spotting her friend. “Draco, I knew you’d be here! How was the meeting?”

Sighing, Draco leaned back on the bench and watched his friend getting something to eat and sitting down on the opposite side of him. Pansy grinned at him, before winking at Potter, who was looking at her wide eyed.

“Did you just… Did you just wink at a baby?” Draco asked and shook his head.

Pansy smirked. “He liked it, look at him!”

Potter was in fact beaming at Pansy and squealed, before shaking his teddy bear until it fell to the floor, when he looked utterly shell-shocked at the plush toy. It looked as if he hadn’t suspected it to fall to the floor.

While a house elf picked up the teddy and gave it back to Potter, Draco turned to his friend. “If I’m not wrong, Pansy, I think you’re starting to like Potter.”

His friend rolled her eyes. “Come on, Draco. You know I’ve always wanted a big family. I like children and I cannot pretend that Potter is an ugly baby or” she stopped, looked at him and smiled then weakly, “… or an unhappy child. I mean, look how constantly happy he is.”

“It’s Potter!”

Pansy shrugged her shoulders. “Are you telling me that you don’t think Potter makes a cute baby?” She grinned at him as if her seemingly shallow question had nothing to do with the fact Potter was still an annoying human being – even in baby form.

“It’s Potter, Pansy” Draco repeated, not really interested in going deeper into the matter. He decided to finally answer her question she had asked before winking at his ward. “So, I have to go to two classes, the rest is private tutoring by Severus and McGonagall.”

His friend seemed impressed. “So you have a lot of free time then, don’t you? What are you going to do with it?”

Draco help up his baby bible – Madam Pomfrey’s booklet – and started reading out a passage he had read this morning. There were other things in there, but since Pansy had asked about his daily routine, he could just as well read what he had learnt.

> **How to keep your baby healthy and nurture it**
> 
> In your daily routine you need to realize that babies need fresh air. You should make an effort to go outside, take long walks and point out interesting things to your baby. If you don’t feel like walking, a simple blanket on the ground with toys on it, will serve the purpose as well, though walking – especially when the baby can walk him or herself – would be much better.
> 
> You should also include a bed time story. They might be not ready to listen to stories and might try eating the book, however, by reading to your child they get familiar with your voice and with time learn that reading books isn’t as bad as people think it is. Even picture books are perfect for babies; cuddle up and read something together.

“There’s much more, but I don’t really like any of this” Draco admitted and sighed, placing the booklet on the tale again.

A loud and frustrated sounding voice made Draco look to his right and frown at the baby, who clearly wasn’t happy that they weren’t focusing on him anymore. Before he could do anything, Pansy was by Potter’s side with a bottle of whatever that she had probably gotten from an elf. She took him into her arms and sat down on the opposite side of Draco again.

“Aw poor baby, not getting the attention you want, huh?” Pansy smiled softly and placed Potter on her lap, starting to feed him quickly.

Draco threw his arms into the air and shook his head. “What are you doing, Pans?! Why are you so… nurturing to him? He hates us!”

Pansy smiled at baby Potter and then turned to Draco. “How does he hate me? Look, he’s happy to be around us!” She continued holding the bottle for Potter, before she looked up again. “I’ve read in a book about the Granian Hair that memories are only gradually returning, so…”

“So he doesn’t remember his parent’s death, I know. Theodore told us, remember?!”

Chuckling, his friend shook her head. “You’re not getting it, Draco. He doesn’t remember you. You are for all he knows now a _friend_. If you feed him, keep him warm, help him over whatever he needs, maybe he will consider you a friend, when he’s gotten to his actual age.”

Draco narrowed his eyes, looking at Potter who was happily drinking or eating his food. For a while, these two were quiet, while the noise level stayed the same with house elves working harder than before. Maybe a lot of late comers wanted something to eat before classes started.

“You need to think Slytherin, Draco! That could actually help you getting through the next months. Being friends with the Golden Boy could help you in all kind of ways. Maybe you could get your father out of Azkaban or…”

“Pansy” Draco interrupted her, shaking his head.

She shut up and nodded. “Sorry, darling. I was in too deep. I won’t mention him again. But my theory stays the same. It would surely be helpful to have him on your side.”

Pansy was right. Of course she was. Draco, however, decided not to talk more about it. He didn’t really like the idea of being friends with Potter after something like that. It would be weird enough to face him again, once he had his normal age again.

They stayed in the kitchen, until Pansy bid good-bye to go to her Transfiguration’s class. Draco sighed, grabbed his things again as well as Potter and his plush toy and headed to the Slytherin Common Room. There shouldn’t be anybody else left and he could use the quiet there.

In their special corner, someone had added a playpen and Draco placed Potter inside, giving him his teddy bear and just some baby book, he had found on the table. After Potter seemed to be happy there, he sat down, head in his hands, groaning over his situation.

It was as if Mother Magic had decided to make him pay for everything he had done in the past. Well, she really shouldn’t have tried too hard. He already felt terrible. His mother was on house arrest for a year, his father stayed in Azkaban for the unforeseen future and he himself was on parole. He needed to finish Hogwarts with good marks, find a respectable job and stay out of trouble for the next ten years.

Whose idea was it to make it ten years?! Ten years were so many years in which he would feel observed and what would happen if he lost his job in there? Would he go back to Azkaban? Yeah, he had spent five weeks in there. Luckily, the Wizarding World hadn’t gotten a tip about it. He would have probably not been able to return to Hogwarts, had the public heard about his imprisonment.

“Ada!”

The sudden noise surprised Draco and made him frown and look at his left. There, Potter looked at him wide-eyes and with a slightly tilted head. He held out his teddy bear as if Draco should take it and maybe also play with him.

“Potter, what do you want?” he asked, slightly annoyed by baby Potter.

His nemesis grinned. “Adadada” he said and let the teddy bear go, which rolled into the floor. Potter looked so confused at it that Draco snorted. The Savior in baby form looked up at him again and beamed at him. “Dada.”

Draco shook his head, remembering the baby bible. “I’m not your dad, Potter!” He got up and grabbed the teddy bear, before handing it over to Potter. “There you go. For future references, Potter: You know you can crawl over to your toy and just play there, right?!”

The Savior giggled and hugged the teddy bear again. Sighing, Draco got up again, looking over the quiet Common Room. “I know people think you’re cute, but you definitely are not!” he said looking away from Potter, who was now beaming at him again. Why was Potter being such an annoyingly happy baby?! Draco knew that he was going to have to work hard on keeping his marks up to his own standard. Potter was nothing more than an inconvenience.


	5. Chapter 5

It wasn’t as bad as Draco thought it was. Potter being a happy baby made a lot of things easy. He had at the very least gotten to understand the diaper changing spell and didn’t need to make baby Potter wait for quite a while until he was clean again.

In this week, Draco had been able to take Potter to all the private classes. Blaise had accepted looking after Potter in his free period, where Draco had to go to class for the Study of Ancient Runes. Well, Pansy had gladly looked after her new boyfriend – which was how Draco called Potter in front of her – when he had to go to Astronomy.

Three days after Potter had turned into a baby, Granger and Weasley had stopped him from leaving the Studies of Ancient Runes classroom. Well, Granger had stopped, him, Weasley simply joined after a few seconds.

“Anything I can help you with?” Draco asked and presented them with a bored look. He wasn’t bored at all. In fact, inside he was trembling. Granger had always scared him slightly. Weasley was easy to look through, but after she had punched him in third year, he had realized that he had absolutely no way of calculating her. And he hated it to his core.

Weasley was – as he had anticipated – about to explode, though Granger kept him firmly in check. “Why do you keep Harry from us?”

Draco frowned slightly. Did they know what happened to their friend? They must have… Well actually, maybe everybody knew what happened to Potter. If their Savior suddenly disappeared, they all would probably like to figure out what happened. Draco almost laughed, when he thought about how bad Finnigan must be feeling over turning the Savior into a baby.

“I don’t intentionally keep him from you. You’re not Slytherin; Potter spends his time in our Common Room. I don’t think that…” Before Draco could end his sentence, Weasley exploded in his face.

The red head was now rocking a pretty much identical color in his face, when he almost screamed into Draco’s face. “What are you doing to Harry?! We both know that you don’t like him! Stop hurting him, you pureblood hypocrite!”

Draco had wanted to say something, though another voice interrupted their discussion. It was Severus who for some reason had decided to walk around the castle and not hide in the dungeons for now.

“What is going on here? Weasley five points from Gryffindor for _attempting_ to swear” Severus snarled. He looked at Granger, who smartly kept her mouth shut while Weasley glared at his professor.

Draco’s godfather either didn’t care enough to say something else or decided to ignore them. He turned to Draco and nodded what seemed to be a quite formal greeting. “Zabini would like to request your return to the Common Room. Some sort of accident happened.”

Frowning, Draco wanted to walk passed Granger and Weasley, when the girl held him back, grabbing his arm tightly. Draco flinched, feeling transported back into Azkaban, where the guards had kept him in just a tight a hold as Granger was doing right now.

She didn’t seem to realize what she was doing. “What happened? Why can’t we talk to Harry?!”

“Granger, let him pass!” Severus raised his eyebrows, clearly catching onto the panic in Draco’s eyes, and added then: “Twenty points from Gryffindor for preventing my student from accomplishing his task.”

The two Gryffindors were practically fuming and Draco had to fight his hardest to not grin right in front of them after he had gotten rid of the shock from what Granger had done. He freed his arm quickly and walked to the dungeons, looking for the Common Room and Blaise. When he entered said room, he knew instantly what had happened.

“Blaise! For fuck’s sake, you need to clean him! It smells like… actual poop in here!” Draco gagged and coughed, quickly changing Potter’s diaper without thinking about using his wand. He then cast a spell to clean the air and shook his head, when he saw his friend sitting at the end of the couch. “Are you okay?”

“It was so traumatic!” his friend said, still wide eyes.

Draco bit back a smirk and sat down next to Blaise. Before he could say anything, the black haired wizard spoke up again. “I never knew how hard it is to take care of a baby!” Draco noticed that he was shaking slightly and even though he couldn’t see whether or not he was pale, thanks to his cared for dark skin; Draco saw a very pale ring around his eyes. Even though he had looked after Potter for not even three hours, he was clearly done with it. “How have you been doing this for the past three days and I can’t even deal with him for two hours?” Blaise clearly seemed done with it.

Even though the situation wasn’t all that funny, Draco couldn’t contain his laughter anymore and he let it out, shaking his head, falling back into the couch. His laughter drew the attention of almost everyone in the Common Room – though only four others were inside – and a baby who seemed to be happy that he was back.

Baby Potter started to laugh as well, which as a result made Blaise smirk slightly, before he shook his head. Draco wiped some tears from his eyes and inhaled deeply. “Oh Merlin, I needed that, thanks Ze.”

“You’re welcome. Just keep on laughing about my failure, really. It doesn’t hurt at all.” Blaise rolled his eyes.

Draco grinned and turned to look at Potter who was hoisting himself to his feet, holding on tight to a table. When he sensed Draco’s look on him, he turned to look at him and grinned widely. “Dada!” He pointed at Severus’ yellow teddy bear on the other corner of the room, though lost touch with the table and after being able to stand like that for a couple of seconds, he fell onto his arse again.

Potter looked completely gobsmacked, before shaking his head and grinning at Draco. “Dada!”

“I’ve said it before, Potter, and I’ll say it again: I’m not your dad!” Draco sighed, when Blaise smirked.

“Did you hear that he calls Pans ‘mama’?”

Widening his eyes, Draco shook his head. “He’s not! No, I’ll kill Pansy, when I see her next.”

Blaise chuckled. He shrugged his shoulders, clearly much more comfortable with Draco being here to look after baby Potter as well. “I gave him some crayons, but he didn’t really draw, more play with it and almost stabbed himself by accident. Luckily...”

He couldn’t finish his sentence, as Draco’s parent instincts suddenly went through the roof. He didn’t even know he had any of them, until now. “You gave Potter crayons?! Why would you do that?! He could actually get hurt!”

“Calm your Hippogriffs, Draco” Blaise held his hands in the air to probably show him that he would never try and hurt baby Potter deliberately. “They’re magical crayons. They won’t hurt babies and they can still draw if they want to.” Blaise grinned. “You behave as if you’re his actual dad.”

Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed Potter, walking to the kitchen and getting something to eat for both of them. He had to admit that he started to feel quite protective over baby Potter. Not only with his friends, but also with others. He could have easily told Granger and Weasley that they could go somewhere and they could spend some time with him, but he didn’t wanted to.

At the end of the first week, Blaise had stepped down from being a babysitter and Draco hadn’t been able to find anybody else (whom he trusted), when he once walked back to the Common Room after Astronomy and almost walked into a seventh year Ravenclaw. “Oh, sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry, Draco” It was a sweet and dreamy voice and Draco stopped and looked at the student properly. It was Luna Lovegood. She smiled softly and nodded. “How is Harry doing? I heard no one wanted to babysit him? He’s not so bad, is he?”

How did she get all these information? He stood there for a little too long for it to be an easy discussion. Draco wasn’t sure what to do. Lovegood was clearly crazy. However, she seemed to care about Potter. And maybe she had a free lesson, when he needed to go to the Studies of Ancient Runes. Why would he trust her more than Potter’s actual friends?

“He’s not bad, just a lot of work.”

Lovegood chuckled. “All babies are. Additionally, I don’t think the Wrackspurts in the dungeons are very good for him.”

Draco frowned, but nodded, pretending he knew what she was talking about. “You don’t coincidentally have two free periods on Thursday right after lunch?” One could always hope.

“Well, usually I like to play with the owls then, but I can certainly make space for Harry, if you’d like to have me as a babysitter?” Lovegood smiled widely and Draco nodded weakly.

“I would be very happy if you could take care of him. It’s not that long, I promise.”

Lovegood chuckled. “Do not worry, Draco. I love children.”

The week then actually ended with every Slytherin being in the Common Room, when baby Potter took a few steps towards Draco and falling onto his arse, grinning broadly. He got up again, carefully and stood there for a while, staring at the people looking at him, before squealing happily and pointing at Draco, calling loudly “Dada!” and Draco groaning in embarrassment, while everyone else laughed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thank you so much for your love of this story!
> 
> I hadn't intended on uploading another chapter today, but I just saw that we've reached 100 kudos! So as a thank you for this, I will give you another chapter today!  
> Tomorrow is a little busy, so I might not be able to do anything else.
> 
> Thank you!

“Ba-wa” Potter grinned broadly at Draco, when he placed a few crayons in front of him. They were once again sitting in their favorite place in the Slytherin Common Room and Potter was now out of his playpen, sitting on the floor (on a very soft carpet).

Draco rolled his eyes, but caught Pansy trying her hardest to hide the smile. “No, Potter, these are not _bawa_ – whatever that is –, but crayons. Maybe this can help you to get better at whatever you’re good at.”

“Oh, come on Draco, he already is very good!” Pansy smiled at Potter who grabbed a yellow crayon, inspecting it with big eyes. They were the same crayons Blaise had given him, so they wouldn't be hurting him, if he accidentally stabbed himself.

Millicent walked closer just in time to hear Pansy and smirked, when she sat down beside her friend and raised her eyebrows. “Potter’s good? Good at what? Being the savior?” 

Blaise snorted and tried hiding his amusement by clearing his throat, after Pansy glared at him. “Maybe he’s good at being a baby, right?”

Pansy shook her head and rolled her eyes, probably slightly annoyed by her friends antics. “Leave him be! He’s being such a good boy! I’ve never actually heard him cry or being mad at anything or anyone. He’s been such a good boy and…”

“You’re talking about Potter” Draco interrupted her, before she would get any more inappropriate. Baby Potter had started to draw something on the parchment with a grey crayon, eyes wide. Draco shook his head and turned back to the discussion happening right now.

Millicent snickered. “Pansy! You’ve never told us, you had a thing for Gryffindors! And Potter! He’s a good choice, really!”

“Yes, look how good he can draw! He’s drawing a horsey over there!” Theodore added, when Pansy actually hit him over the head with a few parchment scrolls Draco had gotten for Potter.

Baby Potter looked up and laughed loudly, when he saw the situation at hand. Blaise snorted again, while Pansy smiled at the black haired baby wizard. She put both her feet onto the couch and leaned over so she could reach the Savior and ruffled through his hair. “You’re being a good boy, aren’t you?”

“Stop talking to Potter like that!” Theodore rolled his eyes and Blaise nodded. 

“It’s creepy.”

Pansy narrowed her eyes at Blaise. “In my opinion, your relationship to your mother is creepy! This is an actual baby and yes it might be Potter in baby form, but he’s still _a baby_! Babies need affection and since none of you idiots are giving him attention, I will be the surrogate mother he can talk to. Because _I_ see the value in being friends with him.”

Millicent sighed. “Well, he already calls you his mother, so not that wrong.”

If Pansy had wanted to say something against it, she never had the chance, as Potter just confirmed it, by weirdly placing the picture he had been drawing in front of her with saying “mama.” He had walked to her and she smiled at him softly. The Slytherins around the room started laughing, while Pansy rolled her eyes at Draco, but hugged Potter quickly.

“Thank you, baby. So what did you draw?”

Potter smiled broadly and pointed at the horse he had been drawing. It was huge and winged and generally looked like a made-up thing. However, when he spoke up, Draco widened his eyes, not sure he was hearing it correctly.

“Fe-taal!”

An eerie silence suddenly took up all the space and Draco frowned at Potter, who didn’t seem to notice what he had just said. Pansy frowned as well, looking at the badly drawn picture, though for some reason, after Potter had said it was a Thestral, you could actually see it.

Draco shook his head and watched as Potter got back to drawing. “This shouldn’t be possible, right?” he asked, only slightly concerned.

Since Theo seemed to be the expert in this whole thing, all eyes turned to him and he narrowed his eyes in thought. It was quiet for quite some time and only after a few tense moments did he speak up.

“As far as I know, his memory shouldn’t actually return unless he has gotten to the age he was when that thing happened.”

Millicent interrupted him. “Which means this drawing is impossible. If we were to believe the story, he only ever saw someone killed when Diggory died. So after fourth year. How can he now draw Thestrals?”

Theodore raised his eyebrows at her and she sighed and motioned him to go on. “The Muggles call it something like the unconscious brain. So, all the information is still there, yet not ready for him to tap into.”

Draco frowned. “So, for him… He’s just drawing a horse with wings and calls it ‘Thestral’ without knowing that it’s actually a thing?”

“Quite possibly, yes.”

They were all quiet, while Potter settled down on the carpet again, starting to draw something else, while he was humming or mumbling something. Draco carefully watched his ward, though nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The drawing of the Thestral hadn’t messed with him and he apparently hadn’t understood what he was doing.

As if baby Potter had realized someone had their eyes on him, he looked up and beamed at him, squealing once again, which almost made Draco chuckle. Almost. Potter wasn’t cute or happy or funny. He was still annoying. And Potter!

“So, what do you think we should do now?” Draco asked, when he turned back to his friends.

Millicent shrugged her shoulders. “Give it time? If it actually means something, we’ll surely find out, right?”

Pansy sighed, placed the drawing on the small table in the middle and nodded. “As much as I hate to agree with you Mil, I think you’re right. He’s still happy, laughing, playing. Nothing seems to have changed. So, for now I would suggest to just stay put. Keep an eye on him and only do something once we realize that something is wrong.”

“Ay ay, mama” Blaise said, which earned him a glaring look from Pansy and a laugh from everyone else, including Potter, who was clearly just laughing because everyone else was.

Rolling her eyes, Pansy placed her feet on the floor and turned to Potter. “Hey, Harry! Come here, baby! Come on, be a good boy!”

Baby Potter looked at her, squealed shortly, before saying something sounding like ‘mama’ and got up with some difficulties and walked over to her, holding himself at the table. Pansy smiled broadly, lifted him up and placed him in her lap, before accio’ing the teddy Potter seemed to love so dearly. “You are an amazing baby boy!”

Blaise snorted and rolled his eyes, which matched Millicent’s expression exactly. Theodore was watching Potter intently, and Draco felt a little jealous once again, over how Pansy talked to Potter and gave him all her attention. Not that he wanted to be in his position, Pansy was his best friend, nothing more, but he seemed to be carefree and happy…

While Pansy held a cup with whatever she had nicked from the kitchen and Potter was drinking it, Millicent and Theodore started talking about the Transfiguration homework and Draco sighed, leaning at the back rest of the arm chair. The past few days had been hard. Potter had learnt how to walk (by holding onto whatever he could find, even Draco’s hand once) and while he couldn’t run around yet, he had shown an incredibly will to go where he wanted to go. Pansy – ever the mother hen – had shown him to clap his hands and now he tried to do it at all times of the day. Or rather nights…

After a few moments, everything was so much quieter than before and when Draco looked around again, he saw Pansy humming a song, Potter half asleep on her lap, Millicent and Theodore hard at work on some essay and Blaise sitting on the floor, leaning at the book case, reading some Potion’s book.

“How is this our new normal?” Draco asked and sighed.

He grabbed his essay as well, when Pansy hummed a little quieter, massaging Potter’s head and Millicent looked up at him. “Short answer, Draco: We’re Slytherins. And the long answer would be: We can adapt to everything, even a baby Potter aka Gryffindor in our midst.”

With that, she turned back to her essay and Draco chuckled. He looked over to Pansy who smiled at him. She turned back to Potter who yawned and snuggled closer to her, before falling asleep, while Pansy kept humming for a few more moments.

“It feels like we’re a clan, raising our youngest together” Theodore said grinning, without looking up from his essay, while writing another line.

Draco grinned. “It certainly does! And I have to admit, I have nothing against it.”

“I do” Blaise said and stuck out his tongue, when Pansy glared at him. “You know I was joking, right? I just don’t want to be left alone with baby Potter.”

“We know, Ze!” Millicent grinned and grabbed a chocolate frog from wherever she had stored them and threw it at Blaise. “That’s why we’re not leaving him alone with you.”

Smirking, Draco turned to her. “You’re starting to sound as if you like him as well, Mil!”

Millicent snorted and rolled her eyes. “In your dreams, Malfoy! I will never like Potter. And baby Potter is just annoying.”

Draco nodded. That was exactly what he felt as well. At least someone knew how he felt about baby Potter. Well, or Potter in general. They kept on quietly working on their school stuff, Millicent handing out chocolate to everyone who wanted one (except Potter, since she wanted him to get up without too much sweets - and because he was still asleep) and they enjoyed being in each others company.


	7. Chapter 7

Draco woke up. It was pitch black. No sounds could be heard. Frowning, Draco sat up in his bed, looking around for no apparent reason – since he couldn’t see anything. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He could feel it.

“Lumos.”

The light from his wand illuminated the slightly bigger room and with one look, he was standing next to the crib, where Potter was rolling around. He was whimpering and there were even some tears in his eyes.

Draco widened his eyes and carefully picked up the still sleeping baby. He sat onto his own bed and started rocking the child. “Shhh, it’s going to be alright, you’re safe here. Don’t cry, Potter, it’s going to be fine.” He started to do the one thing he knew could calm down baby Potter. Pansy had a special kind of melody, which she always hummed, whenever baby Potter was fuzzy or nervous and it always worked in calming him down.

Softly, he started humming and Potter relaxed slightly, though there were still tears running down his face. “It’s going to be fine” he continued like a mantra, though Potter didn’t really seem to relax any further. Unsure of what to do, Draco decided to take the still somewhat sleeping baby to Madam Pomfrey. Something told him that this wasn’t natural.

The castle was still quiet, the only sound being from Draco’s steps as he made his way through the empty hallways. Baby Potter had calmed down very, very slightly and was at least not crying anymore. However, he was still having problems, that much Draco could see and feel.

In the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey was somehow still (or again) awake.

“Mr. Malfoy, everything alright?” she greeted him after jerking up by the sudden noise of the huge door closing.

Draco nodded. “I’m not sure about Potter. He’s not sleeping that calmly anymore. It might be the age where his parents are killed.”

Madam Pomfrey didn’t need more information as she got to work almost immediately. Draco placed the Savior on a smaller bed and she cast a spell on Potter, which was showing her his ‘age’ and then one again to calm him down. Finally, he started sleeping peacefully again.

“You were right, Mr. Malfoy” Madam Pomfrey said as she looked at the parchment. “He’s just reached his fifteenth month.”

Draco frowned slightly. “Is it possible that maybe he’s not achieving all the skills he should be able to have at this age?”

Madam Pomfrey smiled. “It’s very likely, Mr. Malfoy. We’re all humans; everyone develops at a different paste. Are you worried about something?”

No. No, he wasn’t worried. He definitely wasn’t worried about his nemesis, right?! “Well”, Draco started hesitantly. Saying this would confirm that he would worry about Potter and he really wasn’t… He wasn’t! “Potter doesn’t have that much of a vocabulary, he can walk slightly, but not run. Fifteen months old babies should be able to run around. He can’t use any tools when he’s eating and he hasn’t even understood the word ‘no’. Is that normal?”

The mediwitch nodded encouragingly. “It’s a little much, but you don’t have to take the booklet I gave you as a rule. It’s more information about what babies can do. He should be able to walk in a few days, maybe even run. The vocabulary could increase as well suddenly. Don’t worry. He’s not having any problems as much as I can see here.”

She handed Draco the parchment and he actually saw one point on the life event or injuries list:

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
> 


Draco looked up, shaking his head. “Can you do this at any age?”

Madam Pomfrey nodded. “Yes, it’s easier and much less hurtful to a child than working with High Magic. This will tell us everything that happened to him in this age and we can see how old he is. Children tend to fall out of trees or scrape their knees often. Once he can speak normally, we can also just ask him, how old he is. For now, I believe this is much more helpful.”

Admittedly, Madam Pomfrey was correct. Draco smiled and turned to face baby Potter again. “So, what do you think happened tonight?”

“I can’t say it with one hundred percent accuracy, though I would suggest that he had some nightmares. If they get any worse, make sure to come by me or Professor Snape for some Dreamless Sleep or something more acceptable for babies” Madam Pomfrey said and smiled at him, taking back the parchment of Potter’s injuries.

Draco carefully grabbed Potter again and walked back down into the Common Room. Once back in his own room, he carefully placed his nemesis in the crib and stood there, watching over his ward. “Nightmares, huh? I know they’re not fun.”

When he wanted to turn away and head to bed, Potter suddenly opened his teary eyes and looked at Draco. He stopped in the middle of his movements and smiled softly at the Gryffindor. “Yes, bear, how are you doing?” He noticed how soft his voice had gotten, though he couldn’t care less. Something had changed.

Even though Potter was looking as if he could start crying any moment, he smiled and held out a hand towards Draco. He sighed and lifted him out of the crib and walked over to his bed once again, placing baby Potter on his lap. “Better?”

“Dada dad” Potter said and he was suddenly looking like a dog begging for food. Draco looked at him quietly for a while, before he smiled softly.

Did he say that his father was dead? Dada meant father and well… dad could also just be a baby saying what he thought was dead. Draco ruffled through Potter’s hair, which made him giggle, and he chuckled.

“Yes, bear. I’m sorry, your dad isn’t here anymore. You saw it, didn’t you? You were dreaming about it?” Draco asked, knowing full well that Potter was probably unable to understand him. “I’m sorry, bear. I wish I could change your history.”

What was he saying? Why would he want to change his history? That was absolutely stupid and unable to be done. When had he started to feel sorry for the savior? He had a great life. Well, maybe apart from his parents dying. Other than that… why should he even try and change his history?

Looking at Potter, he saw him squealing happily again when he hugged Draco and a soft “Aw” escaped him. Okay. Pansy was right: Potter was a fucking cute baby and he couldn’t keep pretending to hate him. He loved his ward and he did care about him.

He lay on his back, letting Potter crawl around his bed, though with every intention of putting him back into his own bed, should he get tired soon. However, before he knew it, he fell asleep.

The next time he woke up, it was morning and he heard whispers next to him. It actually sounded more like muffled voices. So, he opened his eyes to find Theodore and Pansy inside his room, in a muffliato-bubble talking and playing with Potter. The latter was looking at them wide-eyed, sometimes laughing or saying something as well.

As Pansy realized that Draco was awake, she cancelled the spell and grinned at him. “Good morning, Draco. Do you want to know how long you’ve slept?”

Yawning, Draco shook his head. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Not really, thanks. Potter had nightmares and I went to visit Madam Pomfrey last night to find out that has reached his fifteenth month.”

“Oh shit.” Theodore said and looked at Draco, lacking anything else to say.

Potter tilted his head and squealed. “Thit!”

Pansy burst out laughing, while Theodore got red with embarrassment and Draco shook his head, not approving of what his friend had said. “No cursing in front of the baby, Theodore! Honestly!”

“Sorry, sorry! Potter, don’t say that” Theodore held his hands in the air and shook his head as well.

Potter on the other hand seemed to like that he had brought Pansy to her tears, while she had been laughing. He beamed at her and then said once again “Thit!”

“No!” Draco said, but couldn’t help himself and chuckled as well. “Potter, come on, be a nice young man. We shouldn’t say nasty things in front of ladies!”

Potter grinned and held his hands out for Draco. He did notice how surprised Pansy looked, when he smiled fondly at his ward and lifted him from the ground and put him onto his lap. “You’ve been awake for some time, haven’t you, Potter?”

“Two things, Draco” Pansy started and narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to teach him the etiquettes of Purebloods and… what the hell!? Since when do you actually care about him?!”

Draco chuckled, as he let Potter play with his hand. “I saw that he has nightmares last night. And I think I’ve realized that I have nightmares as well and that maybe we’re not that different.”

“We could for sure teach Potter the proper etiquettes of Purebloods” Theodore suddenly pitched in.

Pansy smirked, but turned back to Draco. “We need to get ready _now_ , Draco. Lovegood’s outside waiting for Potter and The Studies of Ancient Runes starts in ten minutes.”

“Wait, what?!”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all these letters, but I wanted them to be in this story. I also realize that I have a very light Dumbledore bashing going on. That wasn’t on purpose and I will keep it out of this story from now on. (Dumbledore had his reasons to do what he did, I believe)
> 
> The next chapter will have more actions again. I just really liked the idea of Draco getting letters from Harry’s parents :)

Draco had stared at the letter an official owl from Gringott’s had delivered just now for quite a while. Something told him that this wasn’t just a normal letter. It was the same kind of feeling he’d had when Potter was being tormented by the nightmare.

With shaking hands, he opened the letter, looked over to insure that Pansy kept a good look on Potter and after confirming that she did, he sighed and turned to the writing.

> _To whomever it might concern_
> 
> No mother should be writing this letter knowing that the possibility of anything happening is almost one hundred percent. We don’t know what happened to the Longbottoms, but we hope they’re as safe as we are. We haven’t heard anything from them and I know that they had a baby, which matches Dumbledore’s descriptions as well.
> 
> Well, if this letter finds you, then my hopes of being safe weren’t correct. If this letter finds you, both I and my husband will not have made it out alive. And if this letter finds you, then you have been chosen as Harry’s Magical Guardian.
> 
> I’m sorry for giving you the responsibility of looking after him. If I had the choice, I would definitely choose to be the one to raise him. As his mother, I will fight till death to keep him alive. He’s my everything. I know that we made a few mistakes in life, but he doesn’t deserve to live in the shadows of our bad choices.
> 
> Please to not give Harry to his relatives. My husband’s family is too old to live until Harry reaches Hogwarts’ age limit. If he’s to live with them, he will be surely put into the Muggle Orphan System. This isn’t all that bad. Do not – under any circumstance – give my son to my sister and her husband. They have a small boy as well. They will ignore Harry and hate him for having magic in his blood. I know they hate him: they already do and we’ve just seen each other twice in the last few months. Even if you think that it will be good for Harry to grow up surrounded by family – do NOT hand him over to her.
> 
> My husband and I have decided to give Harry to Sirius Orion Black and should he be unable to take care of our son, then Remus John Lupin. Should both aforenamed people not have the sources to help and raise Harry, we have decided to give this responsibility to Severus Snape as his honorary godfather.
> 
> I could think of a thousand names before I would give my lovely baby Harry to Dumbledore as a Magical Guardian, even though he tried to persuade me. I know he’s planning something – a mother knows things like this – but… that has nothing to do with what I’m supposed to write in here.
> 
> Let me instead tell you something about Harry. He’s an incredibly happy child. His favorite toy is the teddy bear Severus gave him when he was only about five months old. He laughs all day long and isn’t mad at anybody that long. Once, James forgot to change his diaper for almost half a day and even though Harry wasn’t feeling all that comfortable, he didn’t take it personally (not like his mother did. I know you’re reading over this James, and since I remembered it again, you’re now going to sleep in the couch again). Sorry about that.
> 
> Harry likes apples the most, but I’ve tried something like carrot puree and he just likes to draw with it, not really eat it. Potato puree does the trick and maybe you’ll figure out how to make him eat more vegetable, I hadn’t had any success until now.
> 
> Well, what else to tell you? Please take care of Harry. In vault 563 there should be some family items that are too valuable to give away to someone, as well as some photographic albums, just in case. I know James’ father started a portrait painting of us; I’m not sure whether or not he was able to finish it. If he did, it might be there as well.
> 
> I honestly don’t know what else to say. If this letter reaches you, then you are exactly who Harry needs right now. I’ve cast the magic surrounding it that way. I hope in my heart that you will take care of my son, now that we can’t be there for him. Please tell him that we love him. That he’s worth more than anything he believes is worth a lot. He’s the most precious thing in the world.
> 
> Thank you for taking care of him.
> 
> _Lily Jasmine Potter (Evans)_

Draco’s hands were now trembling after he had finished the letter. He let if fall onto the blanket they had put on the floor so that they could eat lunch outside and enjoy a late autumn afternoon. Draco could feel the desperation of this letter. This was truly a mother, being scared for her life, but more concerned about what was going to happen with her son.

He looked up at Potter who was right now walking around the ground, while Pansy followed him like a very loyal dog, talking to him about anything interesting and catching him if he ever almost fell to the floor.

Sighing, Draco looked at the parchment again, finding another one behind the one from Lily Potter. This one was signed by Potter’s father. Inhaling deeply, Draco dove into the writing of James Potter.

> This is part two from my wife’s letter to whomever it my concern:
> 
> I would like to add that this letter is not meant to be secretive, unlike my wife’s letter. This letter (well a copy of it) will be the official will document. Should I die, everything in my possession will be handed to my wife. However, and this seems to be the reality of how things are going to end up, should we both die, our possessions will be separated and distributed to the following people:
> 
> Whoever is now Magical Guardian of my son shall receive the content inside vault 372. There should be enough gold inside to give our son everything he’ll need until he’s reached the end of Hogwarts and he can get himself a job and earn his own money.
> 
> My son shall receive the contents of vault 10777. Its documents include Harry’s birth certificate, a few birthday presents that were too fragile to keep around a toddler. There are also a few other valuable items in there, including some of the Potter’s patents and everything else which could be helpful to my son. There is also an unsigned magical marriage document so that should my son desire to marry with his parents blessing, the document will give our statement. Harry, I know you might not want to find out whether or not we approve of your partner choice – you do not have to do something like this.
> 
> To my best mate, Sirius Orion Black, I leave vault 266. It’s not as much as I would have liked to leave you, but my lovely wife told me that you had money on your own. So, these are all the prank things we used over the years and I believe that you’ll take good care of and use it from time to time – if you miss me too much.
> 
> Remus John Lupin shall receive the estate in the Black Forrest. It’s not that huge, but I know you’re not looking for a mansion and you’ve been hinting at maybe wanting to live there. So, I hope you’ll like it.
> 
> Severus Snape shall receive the patents for the Skele-Grow and Pepperup Potion. I’m not such a good Potioneer and I do believe that under your watchful eye, you could increase these helpful potions much better than I ever would. From the stories I heard about the founding patriarch of my family, I think he would like to have someone to actually work with them again and improve them. I hope you see this as a peace offer.
> 
> To Minerva McGonagall I leave all the information gathered about Godric Gryffindor. If you receive this, I’m sorry for not finishing our little project, but I hope you’ll like it nevertheless.
> 
> Everything that I have left unmentioned goes to Harry James Potter when he reaches adulthood.
> 
> I’m sorry that I left my son alone. I had no choice in the matter and I would like you to know that by taking in Harry, you’re doing a very good job and I hope you’re taking care of him. Just like his actual parent would have.
> 
> Thank you all for listening.
> 
> _James Fleamont Potter_

“Heavy read?”

Draco looked up to see Pansy standing in front of him, having Potter on her arms. Nodding, he sighed and placed the two parchments under a book they had taken outside. “The heaviest. I just read the will of Potter’s father. And the letter from his mother to the Magical Guardian.”

“You.”

“Yes.”

Pansy smiled and sat down on the blanket again, while Potter beamed at Draco. It seemed as if the time spent outside was indeed helping him to feel happier again. Before he could say anything to his ward, Pansy spoke up. “I’m sorry, Draco.”

Looking up, he smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Pans. It was weird reading it, but… I think it helps me understand Potter a little better.”

He ruffled through Potter’s hair, while the baby squealed and laughed then. Both adults chuckled and Pansy glanced at Draco. “I think you’ve lost your heart to this happy baby, Draco.”

“Well, you were right, Pans. He is absolutely precious.”


	9. Chapter 9

It had been two days since the letters had arrived. Draco couldn’t let them go. He needed to look into them a little bit more. Maybe even check out the vault Potter’s parents had given their son. While a few years back he would have definitely used this opportunity to get any information about Potter to bully him about it, now he just wanted to find out whether or not there was actually something there to help his ward. Maybe there were a few more plush toys or just something.

Yawning, he walked through Hogwarts and down the main stairs towards the dungeons. He was looking forward to his own bed and even though he didn’t really like it, he also wanted to see Potter. His happy go lucky attitude towards everyone in Slytherin had made all his classmates and actually housemates happy.

Yesterday, Potter had learned how to walk a little faster and he was actually keeping himself on his feet rather well by now. Grinning, Draco shook his head and rubbed his forehead. Today, he had successfully managed to show Professor Sinistra, that even with a child in his care, he could still do his homework and perform in Astronomy class. He thought that she looked mildly impressed, which was saying something coming from her.

As Draco entered the Common Room, he stopped immediately. All eyes were on him and there were far too many people awake for something normal to have happened. His mind travelled to some dark places to when it meant that if a lot of Slytherins were awake that the Dark Lord had done something.

“What’s going on?” He frowned at them, realizing that Potter had killed the Dark Lord. No need to panic then… Wait, maybe something was wrong with his ward! “Is Potter alright?”

Theodore smirked. “Potter’s fine.”

There was a giggle around the Common Room and Draco shook his head. It was nearly midnight! “Why is he still awake, Theodore? Pansy!”

His best friend walked over and grinned. “Harry realized he can play hide and seek. He’s not that good yet, especially since he…”

“He laughs all the time” Millicent said and rolled her eyes. She clearly hadn’t been caught by the Savior’s spell yet. Draco knew that time would show her that this baby Potter was a very special person. He had hated him until a few days ago as well and now he honestly wanted to be around him all the time and protect him from everything.

Before anybody could say something else, Draco could once again hear someone – very likely Potter – giggle from somewhere in the room. Pansy chuckled and looked over the room, before turning back to Draco.

“I’m sorry, darling. We forgot the time. Let me just grab him and put him to…”

“It’s fine, Pans,“ Draco interrupted her, seeing a black haired wizard boy peering out from behind a couch. His eyes were shining and he had a huge grin on his face. “I’ll deal with this little laughing rascal myself.” He let his satchel carelessly fall to the floor and walked closer to the couch slowly. “Where’s Potter? Where are you?” he asked pretending not to have seen him.

Potter giggled loudly and hid behind the couch again. Draco grinned. “Hello?” He crawled on all four next to Potter, looked into the other direction and asked once again: “Hello?!” On his right, he could hear someone laugh loudly, followed by a few inelegantly footsteps, before he looked and just about caught his ward going around the corner.

Getting up, he looked around the room and grinned when he saw Potter hiding behind Theodore, who was trying his hardest to pretend that he didn’t care. Draco could see how something had warmed his heart and it seemed almost impossible to return Theodore to his former self. Potter had caught him with his cuteness as well.

Right now, he turned his head to look over his shoulder towards Potter, who beamed at him and then at Draco. As soon as he realized that Draco could see him, he squealed again and Draco laughed triumphantly.

“Aha! I found you, little laughing bear, I’ll get you now!” He walked around the couch, deliberately taking the longer route, and snuck closer to Potter, who laughed loudly and actually started running (well, what one could describe a baby _running_ ) towards Pansy.

He then stopped behind an arm chair and was ‘hiding’ again. Draco smirked and walked around, seeing Potter pushing his face into the back of the chair. “Hmm, where is my special little laughing bear, now?” he asked, touching Potter’s shoulder.

The boy giggled, but kept his face hidden. Draco chuckled; he realized how a lot of his friends had gotten up and walked to a point where they could see him better.

“Is this maybe Potter?” He tickled his ward, who screamed loudly and laughed, running away from him again. “You can’t get far away!” Draco called, but fell onto the floor to pretend that Potter could get away.

His ward giggled and ran towards Pansy. Draco got to his feet, clapped his hands and pretended to run after Potter as fast as he could.

With no difficulties at all, Draco caught up to him and lifted a still loudly laughing boy onto his arms. “You’re mine now! I’ve got you!”

Potter giggled and squealed, before hugging Draco. “You seem happy today, little laughing bear” Draco commented and smirked.

Pansy had by now pretty much hearts as eyes, as she watched Draco deal with his ward. The people who were left inside the Common Room all wished a nice night and disappeared into their rooms. As it was close to midnight, Draco wasn’t surprised.

He also wasn’t surprised, when Potter yawned out of nowhere. “Poor Potter” Draco said and grinned, when the Savior was rubbing his eyes and yawned again. “Time for bed, huh?”

Pansy smiled almost lovingly at Draco and his ward. “You two together are so damn cute!”

“Oh, I can’t believe how cute Potter was today” Theodore said very much uncharacteristically, at the same time as Pansy had been speaking. Well, he was normally the one to stay out of everything and stay neutral and professional, when everyone else had already lost to whatever emotions they had rushing through their veins. And now, he was the third to fall, even before Millicent.

And well, Blaise was already half out, since Draco was sure he liked baby Potter as well, but didn’t want people to think he was a softy, so he pretended that Potter didn’t bother him.

“You are stupid, Theo! He’s cute, I’ll give you that” Millicent said, rolling her eyes. “But he’s also annoying. Let alone… a baby!”

“Which is why we can say he’s cute” Pansy grinned. “I don’t think I could say ‘Potter’s cute’ in front of his friends and when he’s an adult.”

Blaise smirked. “You could, but then you’d have to date him.”

“Maybe he’ll give you his sperm, so you can have baby Potters around the house!” Millicent laughed and ducked away from a flying cushion Theodore had thrown at her. Draco would have loved to double down on flying pillows, but the only thing he had in his arms was the Savior. And he was not going to test on whether or not Potter was flight prove yet.

Theodore shook his head. “He’s a baby right now, Mil! You can’t just go around saying things like that about babies!”

Millicent rolled her eyes. “Well, then wait half a year and ask him again. I’m sure he wouldn’t say no to the person he called ‘mama’ for weeks.”

Pansy narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m not sure on whether or not you’re joking…”

“Neither am I, actually” Millicent snorted and tried to avoid whatever jinxes Pansy was throwing at her.

Draco shook his head. “We’re heading to bed, girls, have a nice evening.” He grinned as he quickly made his exit from the Common Room which had rather quickly started to turn into a battle ground.

“Good night, Harry!” Draco heard Pansy call out.

When he looked at Potter, he saw him quickly jerk up, but yawning and snuggling closer into his arms. “I know you’re tired, bear, we’re almost there.”

His ward was so tired, that he was either completely asleep again or half awake, desperately trying to cling onto his state. However, Draco was somehow sure that he was about asleep. In fact, as he entered his room and placed Potter in his crib, the boy yawned again and turned, completely asleep.

Chuckling quietly, Draco left for a second, to grab his satchel and hurried back to his room, not wanting to disturb Millicent and Pansy with whatever they were doing, and Blaise had started to attack as well. He really didn’t want to be in the middle of this…

Now yawning himself, Draco just slipped under his blanket and fell asleep almost immediately.


	10. Chapter 10

“Pansy?” Draco entered his room and found Pansy clearly hiding Potter. She had her back turned to him and looked over her shoulder to Draco smiling innocently. Too innocent in his opinion. “Pansy, what are you doing? And where is Potter?”

“Why are you back already, Draco?” Pansy seemingly tried to keep Potter hidden, however, he had apparently heard him and was now trying to get away from his ‘mama’ and go towards Draco.

Potter’s head appeared next to Pansy’s shoulder and Draco caught his breath, incredibly surprised by what he saw when the toddler grinned at him. Pansy looked at him and sighed, getting up with the baby boy on her arm.

“You did not” Draco said, before he started laughing and accepted Potter’s wish of being on his arm. He grabbed his ward who was now dressed in an onesie that actually looked like a bear. It even had brown bear-like feet and a hood with bear ears. Actually on his back there was a tiny brown soft dot which was probably his tail.

“You look absolutely amazing! Now you actually are my laughing _bear_!” Draco grinned and softly pushed a few loose strains under Potter’s hood again. It made Potter’s scar much clearer, since he couldn’t hide it under his hair.

Actually, now that Draco was looking closer, he could see the scar stretching over his whole face. It started at the top right and was the most visible there, however, just like a lightning bolt, it spread over his face, dividing it into a lot of different areas.

Draco didn’t have much more time to look at the happy baby boy, as Pansy smiled weakly. “So, you’re not mad at me for buying this and dressing him in it?”

Looking up, Draco smirked at her. “I’m not mad at you at all, Pans. But you know that he’s growing fast in a few days, right? So he might only be wearing this for one day…”

“That’s fine.” Pansy waved her hands and grinned then. “You know I want to have children, right? I’m just going to keep this for my babies.”

Draco chuckled. “If the story of Potter being turned into a baby ever comes out, you could always sell it for some money.”

Pansy rolled her eyes and they made their way into the Common Room, where Blaise widened his eyes when he saw Potter dressed in his bear suit. The Golden Boy himself grinned and clapped his hands excitedly. For the past two days, Blaise had actually started reading him stories in French.

“Book!” Potter said loudly and grabbed a book from the pile of children’s books in the corner. He climbed onto the couch and was halfway done, when Blaise lifted him up and onto his lap. The Gryffindor laughed and beamed at him.

The throw-away comment from Theodore (or was it Pansy?) about teaching Potter the proper Pureblood manners seemed to have interested Blaise and he had asked his parents to send him children books in French. Some of the stories around also were from Pansy who had loved the idea.

While most of them had actually liked the idea of teaching Potter the etiquettes, Draco had opted not to tell his ward about all the pureblood bullshit. He was very interested in the wild side of Potter and teaching him manners would maybe not go so well. However, for now Potter loved the story times in French and he even said some words in French instead of English by now.

The Gryffindor settled down on Blaise’s lap and looked at the children’s book, while the Slytherin read to him in a nice (but still slightly Italian sounding) French accent. Potter could turn the page himself and it had impressed almost everyone, though the boy clearly just wanted the story to progress. If he had to turn the pages by himself – so be it.

After about fifteen minutes, everyone went back to what they had been doing before Potter dressed in a bear costume had come and wanted Blaise to read something. Draco turned to his potion’s essay, working hard on getting every detail correct. If he couldn’t be in class right now, he at least wanted to show the professors that he could do the work. McGonagall had given him an essay as well and he focused on that as soon as he was happy with the other one.

It was quiet, with everyone working silently or discussing something in a low voice, when the door to the Common Room opened and their head of house entered. “Good evening” he greeted his Snakes and Draco looked up to see him walking closer. He had a sort of annoyed presence around him and Draco frowned. Ever since the war he had somewhat stopped hiding his emotions under the pureblood mask.

“Everything okay, Severus?” he asked.

His godfather sighed. “I’ve just visited the headmistress and she would like me to tell you that Potter’s friends believe you’re keeping him from them on purpose. They want to request some time where they could be around him as well.”

Draco frowned. What had they done so far for their friend? They had come by once, well, not really come by. They had tried to guilt trip Draco into showing Potter to them, after the Studies of Ancient Runes. And now they believed he kept his ward from them? They had never even asked to see him…

“I don’t keep him from them…”

Before he could justify his actions more, Severus shook his head. “I know that, Draco. Just… find a way to include them into your daily routine.”

“What?” Draco narrowed his eyes. Jealousy bubbled up inside him again. “But they didn’t do anything! And now they want to be there every day?”

Severus shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not my decision, Draco. It’s also not theirs. You, as Potter’s ward, can decide whether or not you’d like to have them around him. However, they seem really interested in seeing whether or not he’s fine. So plan a play date with them or something.”

Before he walked away, he stopped dead in his track, as his eyes darted over Potter sitting on Blaise’s lap. “Why is Potter in a bear costume?”

Draco was not going to give away Pansy who had dressed him in it and the rest of Slytherin apparently wasn’t giving away that Draco called Potter bear so the costume was matching everything. Severus frowned and looked around, however, when he saw that nobody was talking, he turned back to Potter. Since Draco’s ward wasn’t showing any signs of hate for the costume, Severus shrugged his shoulders. “Alright, don’t tell me then. Just don’t go to the play date with a dressed up Potter.”

With that, Severus left the Common Room again and Draco rolled his eyes. He couldn’t even think about it longer, as Pansy started speaking quickly.

“He’s not serious, right?! Harry’s been here for three weeks and they only now want to see if he’s fine?!”

“They’re his friends, Pansy…” Draco, even though he really didn’t want to, felt the need to say something positive for Weasley and Granger.

Before he could say more, Pansy interrupted him again. “That’s what I’m saying, Draco! They’re supposed to be his friend! If you were transformed into a baby and Harry was the one to take care of you, I would run through their Common Room just to see whether or not they hurt you. Yet, they wait for three weeks to check up on Harry… That’s not normal, right?”

“Normal?”Millicent shook her head and motioned towards Potter. “Nothing concerning Potter is normal!”

“Pansy wasn’t talking about Potter, to be honest” Theodore grinned as he placed he essay on his satchel. “And I have to say… I think everyone here’s right. Granger and Weasley shouldn’t have waited this long to do something, if this would have happened to you, we would be destroying the Gryffindor Common Room and it’s not normal.”

Blaise looked up from his book and grinned. “Thank you Theo for keeping everything neutral.”

Before they could say something, Potter scowled and clumsily patted the book that was open in front of him. “Lire!” he somewhat yelled and Draco shook his head until he realized that baby Potter was speaking French and wanted Blaise to continue reading the book.

“Of course, little one!”

And so, the evening ended in Blaise reading the book in French, Theodore working on his charms and Pansy and Millicent doing a group project about endangered species of plants for Herbology. Draco leaned at the couch, watching his friends and his ward enjoy the evening. He knew he had to give Potter’s friends a little bit of time with him. Even though he didn’t like it, it was important to Granger and Weasley and for some reason he wanted to be nice to them.

When Blaise finished the book, Potter was quite tired and so, Draco bid good night and they went to bed. As Draco placed Potter into the crib, he ruffled his hair and smiled. “Good night, Harry.”

He realized that he had changed the name, but he had just thought about it being weird that baby Potter would maybe start reaction to Potter more than to Harry. So as much as he didn’t want to use his first name, he wanted Potter to be healthy and happy when he grew up.

Potter beamed at him, though quite tired at the same time. He yawned and rolled on his side. “Bye bye!”

Draco decided to stay awake a little longer, when he realized that Potter had actually fallen asleep right there and then. He lit up a candle and sat next to it with a book about charms to help children. He had found it in the library, when he went to look for a book for his charms essay.

Within a few hours, the candle was half gone and Draco was completely immersed in the book, when he jerked up by a sound coming from the crib. He placed the book under a magical spell and let it float in the air, open to the page he had been on.

Getting up, he walked over to the crib and found Potter turning with a hurtful expression. A whimper escaped him and Draco was by his side quickly. He grabbed Potter and accidentally made him wake up. Baby Potter stared at him, silent tears in his eyes, before he made a sound that sounded like a sob and something happy.

“Hi there, bear. Can’t sleep alone?” Draco asked.

Potter held on tight to his jumper and Draco decided that maybe he wanted to sleep in Draco’s bed. Maybe that was actually helping him sleeping calmly.

He went to bed, cancelled the spell and placed a mark into the book, placing it onto his bedside table. The candle continued shining as long as Draco was sure that Potter wasn’t asleep. Only once the Gryffindor closed his eyes, did he blow out the candle and went to sleep, knowing that Potter was going to sleep through the night – hopefully.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably won't have time to upload anything until Friday, the next two days are a lot of work, but maybe I'll be able to do something :)
> 
> Either way: Thanks for the comment, I re-wrote a little part, because you guys were right: Harry needs to be angry at Hermione and Ron :P
> 
> Since I'm already writing a longer comment, I can also write this: Thank you all for the love towards this story! It's so beautiful and I can't really believe it :D

As Draco entered the Room of Requirement three days later, a sudden flashback overcame him and he saw fire everywhere. Smoke rushing towards the sky, fiery wings of monsters claiming all the living, breathing, not fire prove things. It only lasted until baby Potter put his arms around his neck and said something sounding like ‘dada’.

“Thank you, bear” Draco answered and smiled at Potter. He placed a magical blanket on the floor, even though he clearly didn’t have to bother. The room had adjusted very well. There were thousands of playthings. Things to help Potter walking, teddy bears, dolls and other things. It looked like a child’s paradise.

Potter looked around curiously, though once he was free to walk around, he chose to walk over to Draco and demand to be put on his knees. Chuckling slightly, Draco lifted him up and spun him around twice. His ward was laughing loudly and squealed, before he kicked shortly and Draco pulled him closer and sat him down on his lap.

“Merlin’s balls, he looks so cute!” came a sudden voice.

Draco looked up to see Weaslette standing at the door, next to Lovegood. Frowning slightly, Draco tried to remember whether or not he had invited more than two people for this play date. He was sure that he had only told Weasley and Granger to come and meet him and Potter. Too many people made it harder for him to see and keep track of his ward.

“Hello Draco” Lovegood said and smiled when Potter seemed to recognize her as he beamed at her. “Hello there, Harry! You look happy!”

“Hullo!” Potter declared and gave a cute baby wave.

Draco could see Weaslette practically melting. “He. Is. So. cute!”

“He is” Draco answered and frowned then. “What are you doing here? I invited Granger and Weasley, not you two.” Realizing that this might sound a little harsh, he quickly added: “No offense…”

Weaslette grinned. “None taken, Malfoy. Ron said they were going to see Harry and I wanted to see him as well.”

Well as Potter’s girlfriend, he shouldn’t have been surprised if she wanted to see him. Draco nodded and his ward climbed down from his lap and walked over to Lovegood, who was sitting on the floor, playing with some dolls. Weaslette joined not a second later and Draco smiled weakly.

His damn jealousy was back. For some reason, he wanted Potter all to himself. The way he beamed at him and his happiness was all he needed. Especially right now. However, he couldn’t just take him away from his friends even though he didn’t know them very well now. Well, it had never stopped Potter from talking or playing with them.

In the Slytherin Common Room, there were so many people that he didn’t know, yet he was playing with them all and having fun. A few days ago, when he had started to learn how to climb, all of Slytherin was horrified to watch him climbing the book case and only once Draco had called out to him, he had laughed and with a little help from Draco, had he come down again.

After a few minutes, where Potter was talking and only some words were clear, the door opened again and Weasley and Granger walked inside. Potter jerked up and ran towards Draco who lifted him onto his lap and hugged him. His ward was for some reason hiding his face in his chest. Something must have scared him, however, before Draco could think clearly about it, Granger’s eyes widened.

“Oh my… He really is a baby!” she exclaimed and walked over slowly. Weasley shook his head and followed his girlfriend, while Lovegood smiled.

Draco held his free hand out towards them, stopping their movements. “Here’s the deal, I did not get any saying in this. You went straight to McGonagall telling my head of house to make a play date. That’s not how it’s going to go in the future. You can come and ask me in person and if it won’t fit into my schedule, I am allowed to say no.”

“Why are you such a jerk about it?” Weasley asked, rolling his eyes. Granger shook her head, either agreeing with her boyfriend or disagreeing. Draco had – once again – a hard time reading her.

“I am the Magical Guardian of Harry Potter.” By the mention of his name, Potter stopped hiding his face slightly and looked up at him. Draco ruffled through his hair and felt his ward relaxing a little. Turning back to Granger and Weasley, he continued. “Potter only knows us Slytherins, for now you are strangers. You cannot…”

He didn’t have time to finish, as Weasley stood right in front of him, hands outstretched towards baby Potter. Panic rushed through Draco’s body and he jumped up, hugging Potter and held out a hand to stop the other Gryffindor.

There was a wall. A see-through, hear-through wall out of thick air, probably created by him when he was in panic, standing between him, holding Potter, and the Gryffindors (and Ravenclaw). However, they were in the Room of Requirement, so it could have been the room as well.

Before Draco could say anything, Potter glared at his… future best friend. “No!” he said loudly and snarled at Weasley who stopped trying to get through the wall, looking dumbfounded.

Draco was about to tell everyone to go home, when Granger pulled Weasley back and glared at him. “Ron, what are you doing? Malfoy’s right; Harry doesn’t know us! What you’re doing is probably scaring him!”

Looking down at his ward, Draco could see that Potter was only slightly scared; the other ninety percent of him were glaring at his best friends. Smirking slightly, he looked back at Granger and Weasley. The wall disappeared.

“Here are the rules” Draco started and sat down at the table again, Potter on his lap. “If you want something from Potter, come and talk to me. Should he get uncomfortable with anyone here, I’ll stop this play date even if you think you’re having fun. If you’re taking him out of the Room of Requirement, I will regardless of what the headmistress says, never again invite you to another play date. I’m doing this because McGonagall and Severus told me to do so, not because I wanted to. If it goes well, I might consider doing another play date. It all depends on whether or not Potter likes being here.”

Granger nodded and even Weasley – although reluctantly – agreed. While the wall disappeared, Weaslette walked closer frowning slightly. “How come, we didn’t get to hear any of the rules?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Draco smiled. “You didn’t try and force Potter to do anything. And he already knows Lovegood, so he probably felt safe around you as well.”

While they were talking, Granger kneeled next to Draco and after a suspicious look at him for a second, she turned to the child on his lap. “Hello there. I’m Hermione, that’s Ron” she pointed to the redhead, who waved halfheartedly. “What’s your name?”

Potter was once again hiding half of his face, though when he seemed to realize that there was no danger coming from anyone, he smiled shyly. Though he still clutched Draco’s soft woolen jumper with one hand.

“Potty Hally.”

“Harry Potter” Draco corrected and grinned when Potter beamed at him.

His ward turned to Granger again and was now grinning broadly. “Hally Potty!”

Weasley snorted, while Granger smiled. “Well, hello then Harry.”

Had Weaslette been a snowwoman, she would have been gone by now. She looked as if Potter could do no wrong and as if she was clearly in love with the Savior in baby form. Well, the way Granger was talking to him, it didn’t really help.

Even though Potter was still sitting on Draco’s lap, the two of them were now actually having a discussion about _something_. Weasley was clearly uncomfortable, though Draco didn’t blame him for it.

Well, after a few minutes, Potter had climbed down from Draco’s lap and walked over to Lovegood, who was still sitting in the middle of a few plush toys. Granger and Weaslette followed him immediately, while Weasley joined them rather hesitantly. Draco had decided to stay out of it for the most part; his friends hadn’t seen him for a while, so they probably wanted to play with him. He could play with him whenever he wanted.

So, he sat at the table, doing his Transfiguration homework, keeping an eye on his ward and his friends. After half an hour, Potter was sitting on Lovegood’s lap, playing with dolls (and Weaslette), while talking to Granger in his almost understandable, yet still far away from actual speech talk. Some words were French others were English and most words were just made up or a mix between French and English. Granger however, really seemed to be able to talk to him, since she asked a lot of questions regarding his story and he answered in his language, which she once again pretended to understand.

The only person slightly out of his comfort zone was Weasley, who just sat there, staring at Potter wide-eyed, as if he wasn’t sure whether he was dreaming or not.

After almost two hours, in which they had played with a soft red ball which Potter threw around the room and the rest tried to catch it, the Savior was clearly tired and walked over to Draco, pulling his jeans. “Dada, go” he said.

Draco smiled and lifted him from the ground into his arms. “Of course, bear. But maybe you should eat something, huh?”

Potter’s eyes grew big and he smiled. “Apple!”

“Apples?” Draco smirked. “But you’ve been eating apples for the past few days… How about pumpkin?”

Potter frowned. “No! Apple!”

Chuckling slightly, Draco sighed. “Apples it is.”

Before he could get up and clear the table, Weaslette stood next to him. He jerked back slightly, unsure of what was going on, though she smiled at him after a few seconds of tense silence. “Malfoy, I would like to officially say that I’m sorry. The way you take care of Harry, I’m sure you’re a good guy.”

“Bad guys can still take good care of children” Draco reminded her and raised his eyebrows. He buried his own memories of his father, trying hard not to think about the way he had ended up.

Weaslette shrugged her shoulders. “From what I’ve witnessed today, I think you really want to be there for him. And I’m sorry for making your life hard.”

Draco wasn’t sure what to say. Weaslette hadn’t really made his life hard. There were his parents, the Dark Lord in his home, the constant feeling of failing everyone in his life. Weaslette had been the lowest of his priorities. Yet, there she was, telling him that she was sorry.

“Don’t bother, Weaslette. If anybody should say they’re sorry, I’m the one. So: I’m sorry.”

The Gryffindor held out her hand and Draco hesitantly grabbed it, shaking it shortly, before Weaslette smiled. “Should you ever need a babysitter when Luna can’t make it, I’ll be happy to take care of baby Harry.”

“Oh, make that two!” Granger said and smiled down at Draco. “I’m sorry I’ve been a jerk a few weeks back. Really, I thought you were doing something to him…”

Draco nodded. “Don’t worry, I would have probably reacted the same if any of my friends were babies in your custody.”

As unreal as this day had been, now even Granger held out her hand and Draco shook it, all the while Potter grinned at him. They all left and Draco cleaned up everything, heading down towards the dungeons as well.

They stopped in the kitchens, where they found Pansy and Theodore talking some magic theory about pureblood’s actual blood status. Draco yawned unable to concentrate on what they were talking and accepted the house elves’ apple puree and some other things they made for Harry, before they went back to work.

They didn’t stay there much longer and shortly made their way towards the Common Room, where Potter started running around again (having gained back some energy) and Blaise tried to teach him some pureblood etiquettes. Draco laughed so hard over Blaise’s failed attempt, that he almost hadn’t gotten any air. Even Millicent couldn’t keep a slight grin from her face, though she turned to her books rather quickly afterwards.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You are awesome! I have a little time so I'll upload this.
> 
> Now, in my stats, this story has reached top 5 through all the different topics. That's amazing! :D Thank you so much!

“What the hell is going on here?” Draco asked as he entered his godfather’s private office.

There was the usual going on: cauldron with a few ingredients and the book. The office was dimly lit by some torches and the used up carpet on the floor sometimes made the floor shimmer through. That wasn’t what had surprised Draco. The thing that did was the baby sized potion’s engineering kit in the corner of the office.

Severus, who had his back turned to Draco, raised his eyebrows while turning around. “Swearing in front of a child, Draco? Not really that well mannered.”

Even though Severus had given no explanation to the other station, Draco laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “That wouldn’t be his first swear words, Severus. Theodore said shit in front of him and he liked that word.”

As if to prove his point, Potter’s eyes widened and he grinned. “Thit!”

“No, I…” Draco shook his head and was trying to bite back a laugh, when his godfather started laughing. Every time that happened, it surprised Draco. He had always thought that Severus had no humor and nothing would make him laugh. To him, he was just a man in a neutral state.

As he placed Potter on the floor, Severus sat down in front of the smaller potion’s kit. He started to explain quietly how everything worked and Potter listened carefully. He asked a few questions, which were mostly “That?” and “This?” and “Why?” before he actually started working. It was more just colored water than anything else, but he started mixing it together.

Severus got up and turned to Draco. “Let’s get to work, Draco. We’ve had a few harder potions to make in class. I can tell you as well that one of these _will_ be part of the N.E.W.T.s, just a little warning.”

“Thanks for that,” Draco sighed and quietly started working on the potions, while Severus went to go grade essays and keep an eye on Potter.

All three men (well, two men and a baby) were quietly working on their projects and at the end of the lesson, Draco had successfully finished three potions, while Severus was probably already half done with his essays and Potter… he had productively mixed different colored water and showed Severus his now dark grey mix.

“Good work, little one!” Severus smiled and Potter squealed over being complemented. Draco then picked up his ward and looked at the mess around the place where he had worked. Severus simply motioned him to leave, which made Draco look at Harry surprised.

Before he left the office though, he turned to his godfather and frowned slightly. “Severus, did you ever get to hear the will from the Potters?”

“There was a will?” Severus frowned and shook his head. “I never heard anything about it. The main vault from the Potter’s didn’t have a will in it. As much as I know.”

Draco rubbed his forehead. “I got a letter from Potter’s mother, accompanied by the official will from Potter’s father.”

Severus raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. “I know of nothing. If you want to confirm the will, you need to send it to the Ministry. Head over to Professor McGonagall, she’ll be sure to give you some kind of person you can turn to.”

Draco sighed and left his godfather’s office. When he entered his own room again, he placed Potter on the floor and found a letter from Gringott’s and a photographic album from Potter’s vault on his bed. So, they had gotten his letter and sent him one of the albums.

“Hey, bear?” he asked Potter and saw him turn around and smile at him. “Do you want to look at the pictures?”

“Book!” Potter called out and ran towards him.

Draco chuckled. “Not entirely, but yes.”

He picked up Potter, placed him on his lap and opened the album. The first picture was the wedding day of Potter’s parents. They walked down the aisle and laughed happily into the camera. 

“Look, bear” Draco pointed at James Potter. “This is your dad and this” he moved to the woman, “this is your mum.”

Potter looked at him wide-eyed. “Mama?”

Draco frowned slightly. “Not Pansy, if you think that. This is your actual mum!”

Apparently, Potter didn’t seem to understand, so he turned the page and saw a few more pictures of James Potter’s gang. They laughed into the camera, doing stupid things. Potter giggled, when he saw them. When he turned the page, he saw a heavily pregnant Lily Potter sitting on an open window. The wind was moving the curtains and she was smiling, looking outside. It seemed as if she was humming, or singing silently.

Potter stared at the picture curiously and then turned back to Draco, questioning. “Mama?” he clumsily pointed at the picture.

“Yes bear, this is your mum.”

Utterly surprised, Potter turned back to the picture and a huge smile was on his face. He then turned the page himself, while Draco watched carefully, so he wouldn’t accidentally destroy something. The next page was full of Potter himself. He was sleeping in his mother’s arms, in his father’s arm and a lot of different people.

They turned another page to find little baby Potter playing with a black dog. Potter pointed at him in the picture and looked up at Draco again. “Hally!”

Draco chuckled softly. “Yes, bear. This is you! That is Harry Potter, huh?”

Potter squealed and looked back at the picture. “Hally! Hullo!” he called to the picture and waved. Draco grinned and hugged Potter.

“He can’t hear you, bear.”

Potter’s round eyes turned back to him again and he looked clearly interested. “Why?”

Draco was surprised by that question and shrugged his shoulders. “Because it’s a picture. Our pictures can move but they can’t hear us.”

“Why?”

“That’s just how things are. There’s no real explanation for that.”

Apparently, Potter was okay with the lack of more explanation and turned back to the album. They looked through a few more pictures and somehow Potter got tired and fell asleep after five more pages. Draco carefully grabbed him and made his way up to the Hospital Wing.

He could have brought Harry when he was still awake, but chose not to, since Madam Pomfrey needed to do a lot more spells and his ward was never calm (well, almost never) and this was just easier.

So, he entered the Hospital Wing to find Severus and McGonagall sitting around there. Frowning slightly, Draco took the opportunity to talk to the headmistress without having had to climb up to her office.

“Professor, I have been given the official will of the Potters. Is there someone you know who could assess the validity of this document?” he asked, half expecting not to get an answer.

McGonagall seemed surprised, but caught herself rather quickly. “Yes, Malfoy, I know the High Executor. She’ll be happy to have the Potters’ will and she’s proven to be the best. If you could bring me the will, I’ll make sure to send it to her.”

“Thank you, headmistress.”

Finally, Madam Pomfrey walked out of her office, smiling at Draco. “Mr. Malfoy, welcome back. I wasn’t sure whether or not you’d remember our meeting. Well then, let’s check on your ward, shall we?”

She motioned Draco to place Potter once again in the smaller bed and once he did that, McGonagall and Severus walked closer. So, they were apparently waiting for him. Madam Pomfrey performed her usual spell, checking the age Potter had right now and looked at the parchment it had created. Draco peered over her shoulder to get to see what new things had appeared.

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
>   2. **17 months old** : Officially adopted by the Dursley family
>   3. **22 months old** : Fell down the stairs – being pushed by his cousin, some bruises on legs and arms 
> 


Draco frowned at it. “What is this? His cousin pushed him down the stairs?!” Shaking his head, Draco turned to look at baby Potter, sleeping soundly in the crib. “How old is this idiot that he thinks it’s a good idea to push a baby down some stairs?”

McGonagall took the parchment and frowned at it as well now. “I’ve seen his cousin, when I observed them a few days prior to Harry being placed there. He didn’t seem older than Harry himself.”

Utterly dumbfounded, Draco narrowed his eyes. “So a two year old baby pushed an almost two year old cousin down some stairs?! I hope he got punished for something like that.” In front of McGonagall, he didn’t want to show how much this angered him. Potter was the happiest child he had ever seen and only having read about something like that made him mad at this stupid cousin of his.

Madam Pomfrey accepted the parchment again and smiled at Draco. “I should congratulate you now, Mr. Malfoy. As it looks for now, he will be ageing faster. The next year will take two weeks and after that week by week. I would like for you to come by every week. This parchment is slightly alerting. Should there be other injuries it’s best to look at them and maybe heal them magically.”

Draco nodded. That did sound best. “Of course, Madam Pomfrey. Thank you.” He hoped that there were no other injuries that he needed to see, though having heard the story and read the parchment, he wasn’t sure that this was going to end as he wanted it to. If a child at two years old could push another down some stairs… What else was it able to do? How much did Potter actually get hurt living with these people?

The mediwitch smiled at him encouragingly, apparently having falsely read his concerned expression. “Don’t you worry, Mr. Malfoy. We’ll have Mr. Potter back to his normal age in no time.”


	13. Chapter 13

“Pansy, no.”

“I don’t care what you say, Draco, I want to celebrate his second year birthday. He’s the cutest baby there is and I will be celebrating that he’s around here! I don’t care what you think about it” Pansy turned back to her planning while Draco threw his hands into the air.

“I’m his Magical Guardian. I can choose for him not to attend your party.”

“Which you won’t do” Pansy grinned, not even looking at him. “Because if you do that, our friendship is officially over!”

Draco shook his head. “Over Potter?!” What was going on with Pansy? Their friendship had started when they were infants and now she was actually happy to throw it away for the Savior?!

“No!” Pansy glared at him. “Over you deciding not to give me a time to shine. Harry would definitely love a little more attention and celebrating his birthday might give you a little bit of happiness as well.”

“We are not going to celebrate his birthday! In the very near future, he’s growing one year a week! Do you want to throw him a birthday party _every week_?!” Draco rolled his eyes.

His best friend didn’t seem to listen to him. “Of course not, Darling, but I want to do something special for him!”

There was a tense silence in the air. What could possibly have brought Pansy to this kind of chaotic idea? A Slytherin usually didn’t have the need to do something that was so much out of the normal area of what people usually did... Well, Draco finally figured it out. “Pansy, who told you about Potter’s injury parchment?” he quietly asked.

Pansy glared at him once again. However, this time it seemed vicious. “Everyone’s talking about it. Some second year Ravenclaw was in the Hospital Wing when you were talking about it. You’re a Slytherin, Draco, you should know not to talk about something like that unless you’ve cleared the room! Nevertheless, I’ll throw him the birthday party he’s never had.”

“How do you know he’s never had a birthday party, Pans? Maybe after first year he…”

“I’ve talked to Granger.”

Draco was taken aback. Pansy actually went out of her way, talking to a Gryffindor to get information about Potter’s home life? She was willing to subject herself to shame and anger from these people, having wanted to give Potter to the Dark Lord in the battle, all so that she could find out more about her new favorite person?

“Why would you do that? I mean, I know why you did it, but _why_?!” Draco shook his head, still not able to believe that his best friend would do something like that. Well no… He should have known she would do something like that. She had always had a little wild side and once you were Pansy’s friend, she would never ever let you go. Come tide or high water, she would be by your side.

Pansy looked at him, as if she knew what he was thinking. “Someone hurt baby Harry, Draco. His cousin pushed him down the stairs! He wasn’t even two years old. What do you think happens in the next few years? Do you remember how small and thin Potter was when we first saw him? I thought he was someone accidentally asked to join Hogwarts two years too early. _Too years_! I want him to at least enjoy the childhood he can have in Slytherin. No one here will ever hurt him and we will all protect him. The very least I can do is plan a birthday party for him that he won’t forget. So that there are _some_ happy memories, even though they’re not that real.”

Draco was speechless and looked at his best friend. “You are an amazing person, Pans.”

“So, are you letting me plan his birthday party, or do I have to lock you into your room until it’s all over, Draco?”

Chuckling slightly, Draco kneeled down next to her, looking at the couch table which was overthrown by parchments and books. “I’ll help you plan. It needs to be perfect.”

Pansy smiled at him and pushed a parchment with her planning over, so he could look at what she had been writing so far. She had been planning to celebrate Potter’s birthday the very next day. Everyone in Slytherin had already been told to bring something to play with – however, presents were limited to one per year. Except for the few people that were closer to Potter; Blaise, Theodore, Pansy and Draco. Even Millicent could join if she wanted to, though nobody expected her to do so.

Night came quickly and with that, Draco went to the Room of Requirement to get Potter from the care of Lovegood and Weaslette. Draco suspected that they had also heard about the injury parchment, since they had come by rather early and asked to have some time with his ward, so he could have a free day. It was rather nice, being able to do some work without being interrupted by a toddler who wanted to be entertained.

As he opened the door towards the Room of Requirement, he heard Potter laugh and when Draco looked inside, the Gryffindor was running around with something in his arms that Weaslette was trying to get back, though she clearly was pretending not to be able to get it.

Draco chuckled and closed the door which got the attention of the small boy. “Dada!” he called out and ran towards him. Actually, he was a rather fast runner and almost wasn’t able to stop, as he crashed into Draco’s legs.

“Hello there, bear!” Draco smirked and lifted him up into his arms. “Having a nice day?”

“Yes!” Potter stated and grinned, showing him the little plush horse he was holding in his arm. “Miss you.” Potter's green eyes darted up to his own and there was a hint of a pout as if he was mad that Draco hadn't been here all day. He actually had the ability to look at him with big puppy eyes.

Draco almost said out loud, how cute baby Potter was. Now that he could say small sentences, he said the most amazingly sweet things. “Aw, bear, I’ve missed you too.”

“Sometimes I forget that you two used to hate each other” Weaslette said and grinned at Draco. She put everything back where it belonged, while he looked at his ward and shrugged his shoulders.

“That was before he got turned into a baby and I was chosen to be his Magical Guardian.”

Lovegood narrowed her eyes. “Yes, what did happen for him to choose you as his guardian?” She seemed rather thoughtfull and Draco needed a second to understand what she had just said.

He frowned. “You can’t… choose, right?” He looked at Weaslette, who shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know. I have literally never heard of a… what was that test? Magical Inheritance Test? Magical Guardian Test?” she shook her head. “Anyway, I read magic is rather easily influenced, so he _could_ have actually chosen you as his guardian.”

“Why?” Draco wanted to add something else, when Potter looked at him and smiled.

“Why?!” he echoed and Draco started to chuckle.

“Thank you, bear. But I am capable of repeating myself should there be the need to do so” he said while winking at his ward. Potter only giggled.

Lovegood smiled, handing Weaslette the last few toys that were scattered around the floor, before she turned to Draco. “Through the Magical Guardian’s Test you create a sort of bond between two beings. If he chose you through the test it means that he trusts you. Unconditionally.”

Draco shook his head. “Yeah, no. That is clearly not the case, we hated each other. I would have done anything a few weeks back to humiliate him. Why would he trust me? Why would he trust me more than his best friends?!”

Weaslette frowned slightly, walking closer. “I don’t think he knows about this. Maybe this is unwittingly.”

Potter grinned and said something in his own language. Draco looked at him and smiled. “Well then, young man, do you think you can clean up for yourself, so that we can go back to our Common Room?”

He placed Potter on the floor, who walked with his plush toy towards the corner where the Room had decided to place all the toys.

Weaslette grinned at him. “Do you really think, he can clean up now?”

“I don’t know, but I believe in him.”

Well, Potter stood there, looking at the toys, squealed and threw his horse into the middle of the room, running at Draco again. Laughing, Draco picked up Potter, while Lovegood quickly placed the toy with the others.

“You know what?” Draco grinned at Weaslette. “I stand corrected” he said, while he ruffled through Potter's hair fondly.


	14. Chapter 14

Harry’s birthday was a big success. The castle was probably surprised since there were no Slytherins anywhere. Not for breakfast, not for lunch and not for dinner. Actually, Severus had come by after lunch, looking for them and witnessed a huge buffet in the Common Room, people dancing, playing with baby Potter and a pile of presents (since yes, no one had been happy with simply bringing one present per year).

Potter had widened his eyes at the presents and had started unpacking them and starting to play immediately. Draco had stayed at the back, keeping an eye on his ward, but not wanting to distract him from whatever he had wanted to do.

Severus had stayed for about half an hour, where Potter had started to show him a lot of different things he had gotten and then played with him.

So, yes. The day was a huge success and by eight o’clock, Potter was fast asleep in Draco’s arms, while they sat in their favorite spot behind the book cases. He looked so happy and content. It had also warmed Draco’s heart that after dinner, Potter had walked up to him and wanted to be with him for the rest of the day.

“Pansy, you are amazing!” Blaise grinned and slumped down onto the arm chair, bringing some chocolate cake with him.

Theodore nodded and helped himself to a piece of cake as well. “So, how old is he now? Two years?” he turned to Draco.

“About two. I think he has some more months than these two years, but other than that… yes.”

They were all quiet, until Millicent walked up to them as well and sat down next to Pansy on the other sofa. “Pansy, I heard you talked to Granger about Potter having never had a birthday party?” When Pansy hummed agreeing to that statement, Millicent continued. “Did you ever talk to her and ask what he went through with his family?”

Draco frowned slightly. “Since when do you care, Mil?”

Rolling her eyes, Millicent smiled weakly. “He found my favorite pen! I thought I’d lost it, but it was just under my bed. Anyway… Pansy?”

“I didn’t talk about that. To be perfectly honest, I was hoping there was nothing else happening” Pansy said and shrugged her shoulders. She was lying on a couch, her knees bent and feet resting on the sofa – not really pureblood like behavior.

The group was quiet, until Draco placed Potter into the crib next to his couch. Potter gave a soft hum and moved slightly, once Draco gave him Severus’ Teddy bear. Turning to Blaise and Theodore, he raised his eyebrows. “Do you think you can look after Potter for an hour?”

“Sure. Why?” Theodore answered. Blaise widened his eyes and shook his head, though Theodore punched him in the arm.

“I’m going to look for Granger and Weasley. I need to know as much as possible… well actually just what they know about his childhood.”

Pansy jumped up. “I’m coming with you.”

Draco smirked. “I know; that’s why I’ve asked Theo and Ze to look after baby Potter!”

Theodore nodded. “Tell us everything you can find out! I want to know it all! Poor baby Potter!”

Well, Draco wasn’t sure he would be telling them all he’d find out, especially since it might not be all that good… If it wasn’t that bad, he would tell them, but if they had been hurting baby Potter, he wouldn’t say a word. Maybe. He wasn’t sure about it yet.

Pansy pulled him out of the Common Room and they walked through a mostly silent castle. Since it was almost time to be back in the house’s Common Rooms, there was almost no soul to be found. After having found the Gryffindor’s entrance, both Slytherins stopped. What now? They couldn’t very well knock at the door.

Luckily for them, Longbottom just walked out of the Common Room and stopped dead in his track, when he saw them. “Oh… um hi.” He raised his eyebrows. “Anything I can help you with?”

“Actually yes, we wanted to talk to Granger and Weasley” Pansy said and smiled.

“Did anything happen to Harry?” Longbottom looked slightly shocked. Well, until Draco shook his head.

“He’s alright. We just wanted a little bit of information.”

Nodding, the Gryffindor went back inside and was back rather quick with Potter’s two best friends. “See you around” Longbottom waved and was gone.

Granger didn’t look that angry at them, Weasley however had something unspoken that was clearly annoying him.

Before they could talk about something, the portrait opened another time and Finnigan appeared, looking slightly glad to have found them standing there, though also slightly worried. “Hey, Malfoy, I just wanted… I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for making this…” He clearly didn’t know what to say.

“You should apologize to Harry, once he can remember what happened, Finnigan” Pansy interrupted him and shrugged her shoulders. Finnigan narrowed his eyes. He seemingly wanted to say something against it, when Granger surprisingly agreed with Pansy and the other Gryffindor went back into the Common Room.

“Hello Malfoy, Parkinson” Granger greeted them finally, when she turned back towards them.

Pansy nodded. “I assume you also already know about the parchment? The injury parchment which almost all of Hogwarts knows by now?”

“Yes. Not much of a secret if it’s concerning the ‘Savior’, is it?” Granger smiled weakly. “It’s terrible. I never knew that this happened!”

Draco frowned. If Granger hadn’t known something like that, how would she know about all the other stuff?! Maybe Potter kept most of these things secret, not wanting to make his friends concerned for his well-being…

Pansy didn’t seem to think about this, since she nodded and continued talking. “Well, we wanted to know if you know of any other things that happened to him when he was with his relatives. We need to be prepared, you know.”

Granger looked at them without saying anything for a few moments, then nodded. She motioned them to follow her and Weasley into an empty room, which was close to the Gryffindor Common Room entrance.

The room could have been marked as a broom’s closet, since it wasn’t really big. The four of them had been able to stay in there, but five would have been slightly uncomfortable, though still possible. There were two torches, which weren’t burning and… well, nothing else, just bare walls.

Once all of them were inside and Draco had closed the door, Granger cast a few spells. Draco didn’t really know them by feeling the magic in the air and since they were created unspoken, he couldn’t figure out what they were.

Granger than turned to the two Slytherins. “I don’t know that much of when he was younger. I know that he had needed to cook for his family” Granger stopped and shook her head. “Or rather _relatives_. But that’s about it. On his cousin’s eleventh birthday, he accidentally freed a snake and got punished for using magic.”

Now even Weasley started talking. “In second year, his uncle installed bars at his window, so he couldn’t get away. And they locked all his things into the cupboard under the stairs. He wasn’t allowed to do any homework. And he…” wetting his lips, Weasley looked at the floor. There was something that he really didn’t seem to want to talk about. However, he still started again. “There was a dog flap at the door. His relatives pushed food…”

He wasn’t able to finish, as Pansy in all her anger yelled out something in French that Draco had actually never heard (but was pretty clear a swear word) and punched the wall. There was a sound of a crack and Draco widened his eyes. The torches at the side flashed to life and Draco’s best friend held up her hands in surrender and took a calming breath.

“Sorry about that.”

Granger looked at her strangely, before nodding. “I’m glad this just happened, Parkinson. You just showed us that you do in fact care about him. I think I should have reacted the same, when I heard about it…”

Draco frowned. “You didn’t?”

Well, at least Granger had the decency to look slightly uncomfortable and guilty. “No. Harry talked about it as if it was normal. So… we just assumed…”

“You assumed it was normal for Potter to be fed through a doggy door?!” Pansy widened her eyes and had to take a calming breath once again. “How is that something you think is normal?”

Granger shrugged her shoulders, clearly realizing that her younger self was a little… well, stupid. “I don’t know, Parkinson. But we had other things to think about then.”

Pansy was clearly about to explode, when Draco pulled her back and nodded at the Gryffindors. “Thank you for telling us. I think we need to go to the Hospital Wing now.”

“Why?” Pansy glared at him. She clearly had wanted to get more information; however, Draco didn’t really want to know more… It was already way too much.

“Because I’m pretty sure you broke your hand with that stunt you’ve just pulled, Pans.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this chapter, it was a challenge about being able to write about a storm without just saying it in just one sentence “It was a stormy night…”. Everyone can do that. So, I got challenged to write a picture. I figured it made sense here, but it’s basically just a filler chapter.  
> You know, I first wrote that this chapter wouldn’t have big revelations, but that changed xD So yeah, Some revelations will be head in the middle of a storm :D Let me know how you like it though :)

Rain was bashing at the windows, making it sound as if thousands of pieces of gold were thrown at it. Waves of unruly black water thrashed at the Common Room window, dark shadows of sea weed creating nightmare like shapes on the walls. Lightning colored the dark grey clouds in the sky temporarily in a light blue shade with loud earth shattering thunder following instantly. The wind howled through the smallest cracks in the windows towards their garden and brought icy cold air from the outside, enriched with a little bit of breath from the dead.

Draco shivered and pulled the blanket closer over himself, throwing a glance at Potter and once again putting a warming charm and a sort of silencing charm over him, which he had read in the book from the library. It was a silencing charm that was only silencing the things from outside of it, so that Potter could sleep calmly without hearing anything of the storm. However, should he wake up and cry, Draco would be able to hear him; so a one-sided silencing charm.

The fire in the Common Room was almost gone, though since Draco still sat on the floor – very much not like he had been brought up – and was reading up on some Transfiguration homework, it wasn’t gone completely. A few hours ago, an elf had popped up, seemingly wanting to quench the flames, however, after seeing Draco awake, he put another piece of wood inside and left.

Sitting close to the fire, feeling the warmth, even though the coldness of the wind made him wanting to scream at the coming winter, he closed his eyes, listening to the thunder exploding, the wind making the waves roar and the rain shooting rocks at the castle as if it was some sort of twisted game. He had always liked these nights.

Nights like this, where even one step out of the house would result in one being soaked with rain, punished by a cold unfeeling wind and hurt by the sound of a close lightning and thunder crashing towards the earth and creating chaos upon the living creatures. And no, he didn’t like it because of all of this. He actually hated the uncomfortable feeling of damp clothes on his skin, the unforgiving wind changing one’s body into an ice cube and the earsplitting sound emerging from the sky with every bolt.

No, he liked these nights, because they were safe. No sane human being would go outside, the floo network wasn’t to be trusted with the earth shattering from thunder and possible lightning strokes and the long thick rain made it unable to see anything in front of you in any further distance than your outstretched arm.

These nights were safe from surprises. Surprises like the Dark Lord arriving at the Manor, trying to convince him to join his fucked up spiel of power and fear, and safe from anyone even trying to get close to him. He didn’t like the sound of thunder as much as the next person, but he knew what it meant: safety.

Yawning slightly, he flinched by another thunder and grumbled, having been unable to finish his yawn. He pushed the blanket away and sighed. It was time to go to bed. Midnight was long over, but for some reason he just hadn’t wanted to go to bed. Getting up, he stretched and walked over to the crib, where Potter was sound asleep.

How did he feel about weather like this? Did he also like to hear rain batter down on the roof of the house, see the lightning from his window and feel the earth shake slightly from the contact of the light? Did he like to hear the wind whistling through the house, looking for ways to escape from human touch?

After having read the parchment with all the injuries, Draco wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Potter had always looked so confident and happy. He had never even thought about what his home life could have been. Yes, he had imagined it, but not like that. Not having been thrown down some stairs and being beaten.

“Still awake, I see?” a sudden voice made Draco jerk up and he looked at the shadowy figure, which turned out to be Blaise.

“You know I am.”

Blaise nodded and sat down on the sofa closest to him. “That weather sucks, huh?”

Draco nodded, coming to sit next to his friend as well. “Yeah. Tell me about it.”

“Well, it couldn’t be much worse.”

They sat in a sort of comfortable silence after that, listening to the wind howling through the room, the waves crashing against the window and the lightning (followed by thunder) crashing into whatever it could find.

“Draco, why are you taking care of Potter?”

The sudden and blunt question surprised Draco and he frowned at his friend, before looking at the crib, where his ward was sleeping. “I don’t understand what you mean. His magic chose me and I…”

Blaise shook his head. “You know very well – just like every other pureblood – that a Magical Guardian’s Test doesn’t have the highest power if the chosen guardian doesn’t want it to. So, why did you let it happen?”

“I wasn’t present when they did the test.” Draco knew they were dancing around the topic. Yes, the test could be defied and it was weird that it had chosen him, especially since he had bullied Potter for so long. 

His friend was about to say something, when Draco shook his head. “Blaise, I don’t know. Yes, I hated it when the test said that I was to take care of Potter. I wasn’t thinking about the reversal spell or whatever it’s called.”

“You just accepted your fate?!” Blaise sighed. “We’ve talked about this, Draco. You have to stop _accepting_ everything that happens to you. There’s always something you can do against it, if you don’t like it.” He looked at Draco as if there was something important going on. “Even if you don’t remember the reversal spell.”

“Well, I like it, okay!” Draco glared at his friend, when another lightning bold flashed through the sky. Thunder erupted and actually shook the castle ground. “I always wanted to be Potter’s friend. If he needs me I’m not going to just… say no.”

Blaise smirked and chuckled then. He got to his feet, while Draco looked at him quite surprised. What was going on? “Thanks Dray. That was all I wanted.”

“What?”

“You really should take a little time off of being around Potter and think about _why_ you’re spending time with him. It’s not because you were chosen by a magical parchment, mate. But because _you_ chose to.”

Draco rolled his eyes. Even though he didn’t wanted his friend to be right… He was right. “I really hate you right now, Ze.”

Laughing, Blaise went towards the dormitories. “I know, mate, I know. And you know… you should head to bed.”

While thunder once again erupted from the sky, rain crashed down onto the one side of the dungeon windows and the black monster like waves terrorized the others, Draco hid his head in his hands. Why on earth had he not thought about any of this before? Why had it taken his friend in the middle of the night telling him about this?!

He had never done something like that, just out of… not thinking. When McGonagall had given him the magical parchment, he had just believed her. Why?!

A sudden noise made Draco jerk up. Potter was whimpering and he was frowning quite severely. Draco was by his crib in a matter of seconds, carefully lifted him out of it and sat down on the couch again.

His ward flinched and Draco widened his eyes. What was going on?

“Hey bear…” With the sound of his voice, Potter opened his eyes, at first obviously scared, though when he recognized Draco, he relaxed slightly, before he started crying. “Oh, no, bear. What’s the problem, Harry?”

Whatever it was that was hurting Potter, he didn’t have the words necessary to talk about it and was babbling something.

“Don’t worry, bear. You’re safe here!” Draco said quietly and started humming to calm his ward down. Even though outside, the storm was raging, Draco found that his ward was calmly falling asleep in his arms again.

And he suddenly found the answer to his question: They weren’t so different. Both had lived through a nightmare like youth, had run-ins with death and fought a war not meant for them. And yes, Draco wanted to help Potter, since maybe by doing that he could also help himself.


	16. Chapter 16

The day two days after his revelation brought a few surprises. First of all, Draco rushed Potter to the Hospital Wing when Pansy caught his arm looking weird. In fact, Madam Pomfrey found it broken. Since Potter was growing so fast, it almost healed the same way it had earlier – wrongly. The mediwitch had stopped the growing process rather quickly (showing Draco the trick or rather spell just in case) and then started healing it with magic. It had taken a few hours, but Potter had been the most amazing little boy Draco had ever seen. Well, Pansy had been there as well and they had played something together.

Madam Pomfrey had frowned at Pansy and asked whether or not she had once again punched a wall and Draco’s best friend actually turned red and shook her head, telling the mediwitch that she learned that walls were stronger than bone.

However, this comment made all of them look at Potter, who was by now playing contently with his teddy bear. What did happen that made his bone break? Draco did not want to know, yet… he needed to know. He needed to know what his relatives did to this sweet boy who was so happy!

Apparently, the mediwitch felt the same, since she was rather hesitant in conjuring the injury parchment. Pansy quickly cast a privacy charm – having learnt from the first time. Madam Pomfrey then finally decided to do the magical spell and the parchment sadly got longer.

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
>   2. **17 months old** : Officially adopted by the Dursley family
>   3. **22 months old** : Fell down the stairs – being pushed by his cousin, some bruises on legs and arms
>   4. **2 years, 1 month old** : Official bedroom – Cupboard under the stairs
>   5. **2 years, 3 months old** : Jammed right arm between cupboard door and wall while being pushed out of the way – clean break, no healer visit
> 


“Pansy, if you ever decide to kill them, I will either give you an alibi or help you. Depending on what you need” Draco said darkly, staring at the two new points on the parchment. How did they not go to the healer after something like that?! Even if it was a clean break, it still hurt like hell!

Madam Pomfrey shook her head and looked at Draco. “Should you discuss a way to harm them, you better wait until I’m out of earshot. That way I could deny knowing anything about it.” She turned back to Potter, checking the arm of the somehow still unknowing child. “It’s fine for know. Stay here for another hour and everything should be healed. Then, we can start the ageing process again.” She nodded and hurried out of the privacy bubble, while Draco chuckled.

“This woman is amazing.” Draco looked at Pansy who hadn’t said a word since they had found out about what had happened to Potter, and frowned slightly. “Pans?”

Pansy glared at him. “How did nobody do anything against this? He was being abused! He’s only two years old and already had twice as many life events and injuries on his parchment… Did you see the bullet point before the broken arm? He’s living _under the fu…_ ” glancing at Potter, Pansy held back her swear word and whispered the last part. “… _stairs_!”

Draco nodded darkly. “I know. Which is why I’d give you an alibi, Pans.”

“I’m surprised he’s so happy right now.”

As if to prove her point, Potter looked at her and grinned. “Mama! No happy?” 

Smiling weakly, Pansy sat down on the bed and shook her head. “No darling. But don’t you worry, I’ll be happy again.”

“Okay.”

Draco couldn’t stop himself from chuckling at Potter who seemed to just accept that for now Pansy wasn’t happy, but that she would be happy again. His best friend ruffled through Potter’s hair and he squealed, grinning at her. At least he wasn’t in any pain, Madam Pomfrey had taken that away from him and Draco was glad she did.

“So what do you want to do today? Should we go to Hogsmeade?” Pansy asked and smiled at baby Potter.

The Savior frowned and chewed on his hand, the one he hadn’t hurt. “Ho… Hogg… meat!”

Even though Draco really hadn’t wanted to, he started laughing and shook his head. Potter looked very proud that he had been able to say ‘meat’ or maybe that he could say ‘Hogsmeade’ and it made this scene beautiful.

“Hogs-meade” Pansy slowly said and Potter stared at her as if she was teaching him some unknown spell. “Say it with me, darling: Hogs…”

“Ogzzz!”

Draco bit his lower lip, trying hard not to burst out laughing over Pansy being so dead serious and Potter copying whatever she was saying.

Smiling slightly, Pansy nodded. “Almost, dear: Say ‘H’ for _H_ og!”

“Hog!” Potter grinned. “Hogmeat!”

Barking laughter came from within Draco and he fell to the floor, laughing. Potter stared at him utterly surprised, before he started giggling as well. Pansy snorted and shook her head at the scene in front of her.

“You now, _Dray_ , I’m trying to at least teach him something!”

Draco sat up, wiping tears from his eyes and held his hands up in surrender. “I know, I know, Pans. Sorry about that. It’s just too precious.”

“Dray!”

Both Slytherin stopped what they were doing and turned to Potter who grinned at Draco. “Dray!” He shook his teddy bear, before hugging it. The Gryffindor looked as if he had just had a revelation.

“Yes, bear, how can I help you?” Draco smiled softly. There was a very weak, almost suppressed ‘aww’-sound from Pansy, when Potter’s grin turned broader as is he seemed to realize what Draco’s actual name was (besides Potter calling him ‘dada’). Also, for some reason, Potter had managed to say ‘r’ for the very first time.

Before they could do or say anything else, Madam Pomfrey walked out of her office and turned to them. “Before you go off to Hogsmeade, make sure to keep him in here for an hour.” She smiled at them and walked over to the window, where a knocking and scratching could be heard.

When Draco looked over, he found an official Ministry owl, holding onto the window sill. When Madam Pomfrey opened the window, it swept in and landed next to Draco, holding out its foot where a parchment scroll had been attached to.

Draco caught Potter looking at it with wide eyes, before he waved at the animal and grinned. “Hullo.”

Pansy started laughing as soon as she had gotten over the cuteness of the situation and Draco chuckled, ruffling through Harry’s hair, before turning to the animal and accepting the letter. The owl flew away as soon as Draco had gotten the letter free.

Potter looked after the animal, waving again. “Bye bye!”

“You are such a good boy, Harry!” Pansy beamed at him, which made Potter squeal and he laughed happily. Seeing this made Draco smile over how innocent baby Potter was, even though there were some really heavy things in his past.

When he turned to the scroll and opened it up, he was rather surprised by his findings. It was a letter from High Executer Nelson, the Ministry’s highest ranking official for Will Assessments. Apparently, McGonagall had sent her Potter’s will and now they had received it.

> Dear Mr. Malfoy
> 
> The Department of Will Assessments thanks you for having found the lost will of James Fleamont Potter. You are hereby officially invited to the will reading, taking place
> 
> on **5th December**
> 
> at **11 o’clock**
> 
> in the Ministry of Magic, **Department of Will Assessments, Room 203**
> 
> Since you are the official Magical Guardian of Harry James Potter, it is of the utmost importance for you to appear in front of our Executer in case there are any goods that can’t be distributed. For your own information in preparing, we have listed all the other attendees. Please make sure to arrive early.
> 
>  _Attendees: Draco Lucius Malfoy, Remus John Lupin, Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall_
> 
> Cordially yours
> 
>  **Annemarie Bertha Nelson**
> 
> High Executer, Department of Will Assessments, Ministry of Magic, London

He looked up from the letter and found Pansy looking at him very interested. “What’s it about?” Even baby Potter looked intrigued, though probably only because both of them were so interested by this letter.

“I’m invited to the will reading of James Potter.”


	17. Chapter 17

“No… No Harry, stop it” Draco looked down at the toddler on his knees, pulled his hair out of the grasps of the Golden Boy and raised his eyebrows. “What are you doing with my hair?”

Potter giggled and grabbed Draco’s hair again, though this time, he was faster and simply pushed it out of Harry’s reach. “Now what?”

Well, the Savior in baby form now pouted. It was just too cute and Draco smiled. “I don’t want you munching on my hair, bear!”

“Hair bear!” Potter echoed and giggled again, clapping his hands. “Hair bear!”

“You’re going through all emotions at once, huh, little bear?” Draco smirked and ruffled through Potter’s hair, while he squealed.

They were sitting in room 203 in the Ministry, waiting for the other people to arrive. The room was a little different. Everything – literally everything; walls, chairs, carpet – was velvet and dark red. Only the table had been carved out of light brown wood. Draco couldn’t really see what kind of wood, since his expertise lay in different areas, but he could still appreciate something nice. 

He had arrived a little early to talk to High Executor Nelson, and she had been quite surprised to find Harry Potter as a baby. She was very welcoming and just now entered the room again, though nobody else had been with her.

“High Executor Nelson” Draco started and looked at her interested. “Do you know why the will has never been read? In the letter I received from James Potter it stated that there was a copy of the will…”

The tall woman nodded and quickly straightened her Executor robes. “We believe that it has something to do with Lily Potter’s letter you sent us a copy of. Since little Harry Potter grew up with his aunt and uncle, her final will stated through the letter she sent to the Magical Guardian hadn’t been honored, thus James Potter’s will had never been sent. It’s difficult to see where the system went wrong here” she sighed and sat down on the chair at the head of the table. “However, I do believe that Lily and James Potter were so close, that they accidentally bound their letters and wills together while writing it. Someone at Gringott’s should have realized that, but I think that in the war, a lot of people were writing and preparing wills, so maybe they had just too much to do.”

Draco nodded. It sounded rather convincing. Well, at least it has now been found and most of the people inside the will were still alive to hear what Potter’s father had to say and give them. That was lucky on everyone’s part.

Potter seemed a little restless, so Draco pulled his teddy bear out of a bag and his ward’s eyes grew big. “Yes!” he stated and Draco chuckled, giving him the bear, which made Potter say something in his French-English-mix.

Suddenly, the door opened and Potter jumped, losing the teddy bear in the process and hiding his face in Draco’s chest. He placed his arms around his ward, hoping it would help feel safer. Looking at the door, Draco found a much healthier looking former professor of his.

“Professor Lupin.”

The werewolf stopped and looked at him, rather suspiciously. That was until Potter had a little more courage and turned to the new person in the room as well. Lupin frowned, before seemingly recognizing the small man.

“Harry? Is that really you, pup?” he asked and widened his eyes.

Potter didn’t know how to react and looked up at Draco, just searching for some guidance. Draco smiled and turned to Lupin.

“It is Harry Potter. We had a little accident at Hogwarts and he was turned into a baby…”

Lupin’s wolf like eyes darted over Draco and he felt himself shutter. It was always the wolf eyes that got him. Greyback had had the same eyes, they even gleamed when it was dark around. He never again wanted to wake up to seeing nothing, a pitch black room and two glowing eyes in the corner of it. His father had just laughed about it, when he told him.

“And you’re taking care of him now?” Lupin asked carefully. There was a clear distance between them. It seemed as if he was assessing him.

Nodding, Draco just wanted to say something, when Potter successfully grabbed his hair again, which had come back into his reach, and put it into his mouth. “Harry… We’ve talked about this, didn’t we?!” Draco turned to the toddler and tickled him, which made Potter laugh and Draco got his hair back, casting it clean again. He grabbed Potter’s teddy bear from the ground and gave it back. “This is what you can play with, bear.”

“Okai” Potter said and hugged his teddy bear again. Draco grinned and put his hair into a messy bun, effectively keeping it away from the toddler.

Lupin started to laugh and nodded. The tension between them seemed to have resorted. “The godfather of my son is now a baby as well, that is just hilarious.” He chuckled and nodded then. “I see you’re taking good care of him.”

“I try” Draco said and smiled weakly. “I’m not sure what’ll happen when he grows up and actually remembers the parts of me that I don’t really want to remember, but for now I think he’s doing fine.”

The werewolf smiled. “Maybe we could actually get Teddy and Harry together soon for a play date?”

Draco returned the smile and ruffled through Potter’s hair, without actually thinking of what he was doing. “If that works for you, of course. However, Potter ages rather fast now. Next week, he’s three years old. And after that he ages one year a week.”

“So how about next Saturday?”

Checking everything that was going on at Hogwarts internally, Draco agreed. “That works for me, Professor.”

The werewolf inclined his head and took a seat next to Draco. “By the way, I’m not your professor anymore. You can call me Remus or if you’d prefer Lupin.”

Nodding, Draco held out his hand as a peace offer and they shook. “Nice to meet you… Remus.”

“Likewise, Draco.”

Before they could talk more, the door opened again, though this time not as abruptly as before, to reveal two actual Hogwarts professors. Severus and McGonagall entered the room, greeting the High Executor Nelson. Severus looked at Remus, just slightly annoyed, but sighed then. Remus nodded once at him and Draco’s godfather copied his movement. Apparently that was how adults cleared problems? Well, without any further talking or acting, the High Executor started the will reading.

“Right, the will from James Fleamont Potter has been found recently, hidden in a vault at Gringott’s. Here are the paragraphs that are important for the present people” she looked at the will and started reading. “ _Whoever is now Magical Guardian of my son shall receive the content inside vault 372._ ” She looked at Draco, who nodded, unsure whether or not he was actually allowed to take something out there, should he ever need to.

High Executor Nelson continued reading: “ _My son shall receive the contents of vault 10777. Its documents include Harry’s birth certificate, a few birthday presents that were too fragile to keep around a toddler._ ” She didn’t read all of it, maybe there was a rule about how much people were allowed to hear, but Draco knew that there were a few more things in there than just the birth certificate and a few toys.

Nevertheless, the woman continued, turning to Remus. “ _Remus John Lupin shall receive the estate in the Black Forrest. It’s not that huge, but I know you’re not looking for a mansion and you’ve been hinting at maybe wanting to live there._ ”

“Wait what?” Remus looked utterly surprised and widened his eyes. “He’s giving me house?”

“It’s in the will, isn’t it?” McGonagall asked and smiled at the werewolf, who was still in clear shock. Draco wasn’t sure why he was so surprised… He had never seen the house, but from what Potter’s father wrote it wasn’t big… or may it actually was but for James Potter it was small. Well, maybe he could take a look at it on Saturday.

High Executor Nelson smiled at Remus then turned to Severus, who was looking a little nervous. “ _Severus Snape shall receive the patents for the Skele-Grow and Pepperup Potion. I’m not such a good Potioneer and I do believe that under your watchful eye, you could increase these helpful potions much better than I ever would._ ”

Severus was shell-shocked, Draco could see it clearly. Maybe he thought that him being here was just some sort of fucked up joke, yet, there he was, having just received two very worthy patents. He could basically stop working and just enjoy life while getting money from the Potter’s invention. Draco bit back a grin when he thought about it and looked down at Potter, who was playing with his teddy rather quietly.

Finally, the High Executor came to an end and turned to McGonagall. “ _To Minerva McGonagall I leave all the information gathered about Godric Gryffindor. If you receive this, I’m sorry for not finishing our little project, but I hope you’ll like it nevertheless. Everything that I have left unmentioned goes to Harry James Potter when he reaches adulthood._ ”

It was quiet for a few seconds, until McGonagall sighed. “I forgot about that. Well, it’s nice to have some memories of what I did when I was a little younger.”

Remus chuckled, nodding weakly. “Did James not leave anything for Sirius?” he turned to High Executor Nelson.

“He did” she answered. “However, since Sirius Orion Black passed away, all his possessions have been given to Harry James Potter. Once he reaches adulthood, he will receive a letter with all his possessions and vaults.” The last part she said towards Draco.


	18. Chapter 18

Apparently, the will reading was over and everyone left the room, Severus and McGonagall heading to Gringott’s with their respective letters of what was left to them. Remus stopped outside of the room, waiting for Draco who gathered all of Potter’s stuff from wherever he had placed them.

“Ready to go home?” Draco asked and his ward nodded, he slid from Draco’s arm and started walking towards Remus.

“Hi Moony!” he said and beamed up at him.

The werewolf was taken by surprise and after an initial shock; he crouched down to be as close to the eye level as possible. “You remember me?” He carefully brushed a few strains of hair out of his face and Draco saw him looking sadly at the scar on his forehead.

“His memory is coming back whenever he’s in a specific age” Draco explained and Remus looked at him thoughtfully, before he smiled.

Shaking his head, he turned back to the toddler. “It’s not that. We’ve spent a few years together when he was a baby. After Lily and James died I lost contact.” He got back up to his feet and looked at Draco. “When we met at Hogwarts, he didn’t remember me. So I’m a little surprised he remembers me now.”

Draco pulled the satchel over his head and left the room as well, motioning his ward to follow him, which he did. The three men slowly made their way back to the official elevators in the Ministry. They weren't slow because they deliberately walked slow; it was because Potter wanted to see everything that was to see on their way.

“Maybe he also remembers you, because I’ve shown him a few pictures about his parents. There were pictures of you guys in there” Draco explained, walking down the stairs and waiting after two steps, looking back at Potter who carefully held onto the banister, before he took one step at the time.

Remus looked at Potter and a smile spread over his face. “Draco, should you ever have a problem with something, don’t hesitate to contact me. For now, I’m at home taking care of Teddy, I won’t mind having another child around. And Harry has always been rather happy. Is he still…” Remus trailed off, apparently not really sure that he’d still be the same.

Draco laughed and nodded, walking down a few more steps, as Potter had caught up to them. “Oh yes. He’s always happy and laughing. Our Common Room has turned into quite the happy place.”

Remus chuckled. “I guess Slytherin could use that? Especially after the war; your house has been blamed for too much.”

It surprised Draco that Remus actually thought like that. He had always thought that the Gryffindor professor lived with all the stereotypes. Especially since he himself was Gryffindor.

As if he had read his mind, Remus grinned at Draco. “My best friend’s family’s been Slytherin for centuries. The Hat considered all four houses for me, before settling for Gryffindor, I know Harry almost was a Slytherin so…”

“Wait what?” Draco frowned. “Potter would have been a Slytherin? How so?”

Remus shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know exactly what happened. I just know that Harry’s had a few doubts about being a good person since the Hat had wanted to put him into Slytherin. I hope you guys can show him that being in Slytherin doesn’t mean you’re a bad guy.”

Draco nodded and waited at the base of the stairs for the Savior to catch up with them. “I don’t think he thinks that way. Not now at least…” He had wanted to say something else, when the werewolf interrupted him.

“There’s something else, Draco.” Draco turned and frowned at Remus. Thankfully, he continued speaking rather quickly. “Once he reaches his 11th year, you might have to be prepared for him to be unhappy in Slytherin. If he actually gets all his memories of the year he’s in, he will remember you. And possibly not in a positive light.”

After a short silence, Draco started laughing and nodded. “Thank you for this rather neutral statement, Remus. I was a dick all throughout Hogwarts. I’ll take a look into this topic. See, if there’s something I can do.”

Potter was now standing next to them and grinned at them. Draco picked him up and they walked through a busier part of the Ministry. When they reached the fire places, Draco turned to Remus. “May I reach out to you if there’s something that… I don’t know… is difficult or something…”

“You may contact me whenever, Draco. I’m also a good listener, if there’s something you’d like to talk about.” Remus patted Draco’s back as he smiled. “Just keep in mind that once a month I’m in a sort of… deep slumber.”

Draco chuckled and nodded. “Thank you, Remus. I appreciate it.”

“You have become a fine young man, Draco.” He was about to head off, when he turned back and smiled. “I remember Harry having loved the book…” he narrowed his eyes and seemed to remember it quickly. “ _A Day with Mommy Bear_. Maybe he still does.” The werewolf bid goodbye – also to Harry who waved – before he walked to a different fire place and went home.

*

Pansy was a Goddess, Draco was sure of it. Not only did she actually have the book Remus suggested, she actually had it in English and French! Draco sat down after Potter had fallen asleep in his crib and looked through the book, interested in why this would be his favorite.

It was somehow funny to him how he called Potter ‘bear’ and now his favorite childhood book was something about a bear…

Well, the book wasn’t all that huge and amazingly complicated. It was literally… a day with a bear that had cubs. But it was cute somehow. And one of the cubs reminded Draco of Potter when he had been wearing Pansy’s bear costume. It made everything just cuter and…

 _Merlin’s beard_ , Draco groaned and buried his face in his hands. He had totally lost the battle against Potter and/or anything surrounding him.

“Why are you so depressed over a children’s book?”

Looking up, he found Pansy sitting there, raised eyebrows and clearly confused. Draco shook his head. “I’m not depressed over this book, Pans. I’m… angry at myself.”

It was endearing to Draco when he saw the sudden concerned look of Pansy’s face. She had always been and always would be his best friend.

“Well, that doesn’t sound any better, Draco. What’s going on?”

Draco sighed and leaned back in the arm chair. “That’s a hell of a good question, Pansy. I don’t know. I honestly have no idea what’s going on and how I can improve anything or…”

“Is it something with Harry?” she asked and looked at the crib, where baby Potter was calmly sleeping, hugging his teddy bear with one arm.

“No.” It wasn’t Potter. Baby Potter could do no wrong – everyone in Slytherin knew that. “I think I’m jealous.”

Pansy frowned. “Jealous? How so?”

Draco narrowed his eyes, thinking hard about what he had said. Why was he jealous? Was it Potter’s heroic stunts he had done last year? Of course it was amazing seeing him do all of it. However, when he had defeated the Dark Lord, he had fallen to his knees, crying. He would have loved to be there and help him, but it wasn’t what his jealousy was about. Maybe it was all the attention he was getting?

“Draco?” Pansy slightly pushed his shoulder. “Come on, darling, you know you can tell me anything!”

“I think I want to be Potter?” It was stated as a question, but Draco was sure that it actually was true. He did sometimes wish he could be just like Potter. Bold, courageous and… strong even if others thought he was wrong.

Pansy frowned, clearly not getting what he was talking about. “What? A baby?”

Shaking his head, Draco wasn’t even going to laugh at this kind of ridiculous question. “Huh? What, no… I want to be on the good side.”

Both were quiet for a solid minute, lost in their own thoughts. Draco was thinking about what would have changed had he been Potter’s friend from the start. He could have been a spy for him, watching what the Dark Lord had done, telling him everything. He could have told him how scared he was for his life, but that he knew he was doing to right thing and that in the end, everything would be worth it, even if it meant him dying.

Pansy brought him back to his sad reality and placed a hand on his knee. “Well, it’s a little late for that, don’t you think, Draco? We both are on the dark side, me having wanted to give him to the Dark Lord and you, actually having the Dark Mark on your arm…”

“I know, Pans, I know. Thanks for the reminder” he interrupted his childhood best friend. His hand traced over his jumper, pulling it down further, even though it was already hiding the Dark Mark firmly.

Over the summer, he had never shown any skin, his light long sleeved white shirts had helped him almost forget that there was some black ink spread over his forearm. It was neither pretty nor helpful to have it there.

“Draco… You know I didn’t mean it like that!” Pansy sighed as she took back her hand, not really sure what to do with it. “People will always see us as a part of the bad side. In my opinion, we should just enjoy having an unknowing child here, who sees us as what we are not what we were.”

Smiling slightly, he remembered what Remus said… Well… “Remus said the same thing today. He said that once Harry reaches his memories of his school days… It won’t last. What we have will not stay like this forever.”

Pansy nodded. “You’re sad about maybe losing the bond you and Harry have?”

“If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you, but yes!”

“Draco, maybe that doesn’t even happen!” Pansy smiled and narrowed her eyes, thinking. “We’ve never had a case of these stupid Granian hairs, where a person de-aged for more than ten years! Maybe he…”

“It’s not even about the hairs, Pans. It’s about the fact that I was a jerk to him. I bullied him for losing his parent, for Merlin’s sake!” Draco rubbed his forehead. Should Potter actually get all of his memory back, he was surely not willing to stay with him. He had done and said some really mean and hurtful things over the past few years and even though Potter was a very forgiving person, he wasn’t sure that the Gryffindor was ever going to forgive him.

Pansy sighed. “Okay, here’s the deal: I didn’t want to tell you this now, because maybe there’s nothing coming of it. I’ve written a letter to a specialist in Memory Recovery. He hasn’t written back, but I think that there might be a chance that we can restore all of his memory at once, so he does remember…”

“Me trying to kill Dumbledore, yeah. I think with this method he’ll surely stay away for good, forever.”

Pansy growled. She actually growled at Draco and threw her hair back rather dramatically. “Stop being pessimistic, Draco. Do something to get out of this depressive mood you’re in. Maybe go to bed, darling. A new day might give you new ideas or at least a little break.”

Draco rolled his eyes, though Mama Pansy actually had ordered him to go to his room. When he sat there, looking at sleeping baby Potter, he sighed and walked over to his desk, deciding on writing a letter to Remus. There wasn’t even something serious happening, he just wanted someone to talk to.


	19. Chapter 19

Draco had waited until the next day to send the letter. If Remus’ son was able to sleep through the night and he would wake the man up with an owl, that wouldn’t be very considered of him. So, right after breakfast, he had grabbed baby Potter and they made their way up to the owlery, where Draco had sent the letter.

He hadn’t thought that the werewolf actually was going to respond, however, not even five hours later, the owl swept down from the sky, when Draco was sitting outside with Potter, who was enjoying the fresh air. They were sitting in Slytherin’s very own Secret Garden. It had only one entrance and that was through a weird looking book case. Some second year had once found it and since then it was a spot that everyone loved, since they could be themselves there without any other house judging them. And the sun was also hitting the garden rather perfectly, whenever you wanted it to. On the owl’s foot, there as actually a small package.

Widening his eyes, Draco untied it and gave it some treats, which it actually seemed to appreciate. He then opened the package to find a letter and a small booklet called _100 Things new parent’s need to know_. Smirking softly, Draco put it onto the floor and looked at the parchment. It actually was a full on letter from Remus. Checking on Potter, Draco saw him sitting on the grass, playing with a few dirty leaves that he threw into the air and giggled about.

Grinning, Draco turned to the letter.

> Dear Draco
> 
> Thank you so much for your nice letter. It took me by surprise to hear from you so soon, however, I always enjoy getting mail, so don’t hesitate to write.
> 
> From what I could read between the lines of your letter, Harry seems to have a little problem with his sleep. I have a book that could help you with all the problems you might… you know what? I’ll just send it to you as well. Please take care of it, as it is my only copy and Nymphadora actually gave it to me. I trust you know how to handle presents.
> 
> Anyway, in this book, there are some helpful things, even without magic. I believe that too much magic around babies can actually hurt them. It’s not proven, though, so don’t quote me on that. I realized that there are some points on Teddy’s feet that if I massage them, he starts sleeping calmer, maybe that’ll help Harry as well?
> 
> As for your other point: The Magical Guardian’s Test has a few… let’s say difficult points, which haven’t gotten their own set of rules yet, as it is barely used. I have read a few books about it, but nobody really seems to know where it comes from and who created it for what reason. From what I know, it checks the magical surrounding (not the actual term) and then bonds with the one the most compatible. In Harry’s case it was yours.
> 
> That also means that had the MGT been done in another place, another wizard could have been chosen to be Harry’s guardian.
> 
> I am slightly curious: Are you thinking about giving up on Harry already? It has only been five weeks and I thought you were happy to have him around? Even though I didn’t stay around you two for all too long, I did see some positive energy there – from both sides. Harry really seems to like being around you and I thought you did too.
> 
> Well, whatever it is: Maybe the book will be able to help you be an even better Guardian than you already are. I do think that you can do everything you want.
> 
> Oh and by the way, I know (or at least think I know) how you feel with your loved once not being happy with you. Once again; don’t hesitate to write, I would like to help you with anything. And also, I’m really happy to have another person around who’s not going to talk to me in ‘bababa blabam aga akab’, whatever that means – I think Teddy wants breakfast. So, I’ll end the letter here and await another one. (If you want to)
> 
> Have a nice day and greet Harry from me.
> 
> \- RL

“Dray!”

Draco looked up, luckily having ended the letter and found Potter standing next to him smiling. “Hi there, Harry. How are you doing?”

Potter beamed at him. “I want apple!”

“Really? And what do you want to do with it? Play?” Draco grinned.

The Gryffindor narrowed his eyes in thoughts and shook his head. “No! Eat!”

“You want to eat an apple?”

“Yes!”

Draco chuckled. “Do you ever want to try something new? A pumpkin or pineapple?”

Potter was clearly thinking, either trying to remember what a pineapple was or adding words to make question or a sentence. Draco wasn’t sure. For now, both actions had very similar expressions. Finally, after about a minute of silence, the Savior answered his question… with another.

“What is pine-apple?”

Before Draco could answer, the door was opened and Pansy walked into the garden, three apples already ready as well as a tomato mozzarella salad. Potter squealed and ran towards her, which she somehow hadn’t anticipated, as the salad flew into the air.

Draco caught it and Pansy threw him a thankful look, before turning to the boy around her leg. “Hi darling! How was your day?”

“Good!” Potter answered and laughed. “Apple!”

Pansy laughed and she made Potter follow her so that they sat in the garden, next to Draco. She cut the apple into pieces and handed them to the toddler who enjoyed them very much! Pansy then started talking about classes with Draco. Apparently, Weasley and Finnigan had managed to break two more cauldrons. The Gryffindors were now around the edge of having no house points, since Severus had actually deducted them two hundred points. Each.

Draco ate his salad, when Potter climbed onto his lap. “What you eat?” he asked curiously.

“It’s tomato mozzarella salad, bear. Want to try?”

His ward eyed the salad suspiciously, as if he was thinking that the tomatoes would jump out at him any second. “Yes!” he finally stated.

Draco handed him his fork and kept a careful eye on Potter. However, the toddler had somehow managed to work out how forks were supposed to work and grabbed a small piece of tomato skillfully. Once he placed it into his mouth, he tilted his head and started to laugh quickly after.

“Do you like it, darling?” Pansy asked and smiled softly.

“Yes!” Potter’s eyes were basically glowing. “Tomato!”

Laughing, Draco took back his fork. “Well too bad, bear! This is my salad!” he said teasingly. Potter pouted and crossed his arms, which made not only Pansy very weak, but Draco as well. He had wanted to keep this game up for a little bit, but not when his ward looked so heartbroken.

“How about we share it, Harry?” he suggested and the Gryffindor nodded enthusiastically.

Pansy grinned at Draco. “You are so far gone from the bully you were when he was youn… older” she gave him a lopsided grin.

Draco laughed loudly and shrugged his shoulders. “Actually, I think we both are, Pans.”

“About that” Pansy smiled somewhat sheepishly and pointed at the door towards the Common Room. There stood a small flaming red tricycle and once Potter caught eye of it, he looked at Pansy questioning.

Before he (or Pansy) could say anything, Draco sighed. “Pansy, what did you do? Why have you bought a tricycle for Potter? You know that he won’t be this age for much longer? You are starting to get a little… and I mean this the nicest way possible – a little impulsive.”

Pansy chuckled, shrugged her shoulder and motioned Potter to get up and follow her to the tricycle. She showed him how to move it and soon enough – actually very soon – the Gryffindor was cruising around the secret garden and Draco was happy that there were walls everywhere, so his ward couldn’t escape.

His best friend sat down again and smirked at Draco. “I know, what you have to say, Dray. Just… hear me out!”

Draco held his hands up and sighed. At the same time as Pansy said it, he echoed her with his own version of what was happening. “You want to have a big family and once Potter’s an adult, you’re going to add it to your huge collection of things you bought for Potter, but are going to keep for yourself. I know.”

Pansy grinned and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s true.”

Laughing, Draco rolled his eyes and checked up on his ward who somehow had managed to get some real speed on his small tricycle. And he was getting really good at cutting corners sharply, which Draco thought was a little dangerous, but he simply decided to let him have some fun. He might have been in need of that. And the Hospital Wing wasn’t far away.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, last week wasn't all that bad. Now, however, I don't even have time to write. I still have 2 chapters ready, where I only have to add a few details etc. But after that, I'm done... I'll give you these two chapters during this week, I promise and I hope I can have time to write during the week-end, but I don't know...  
> Please have patience, I'll continue as fast as I can :)
> 
> Anyway, about this chapter: I'd like to think that Remus has become sort of a father figure for Draco as well :)

“Okay, so are you ready to go, bear?” Draco looked around to find his ward sitting on the carpet, playing with toy trucks that Severus had gotten him the other day. Well, Harry had received so many presents over the course of his… childhood that Draco was unsure of what to do with them… He was going to age up so much quicker and in a few weeks he wouldn’t even like these toys – probably.

Well, while Potter was playing, he was only half dressed. He wore a purple jumper, sent to him by Weasley’s mother, and no pants, but socks. And the socks weren’t even the same color. His father would have never let him play like that, even if he wanted to. And he wasn't really dessed either. His father would have been furious. Including that jumper, which would have never worked for him.

Draco scoffed and shook his head. He wasn’t his father and the color was matching Harry’s color quite nicely. Actually, Weasley had given him a few more jumpers when they had their last play date (he had been a lot nicer and Draco somehow suspected Granger to have something to do with it, but he didn’t say a word). Well, all the jumpers were growing with Potter, though not all the way. It was still something nice to have.

“Hey there!” He kneeled next to Potter and smiled softly. “We have to leave in a few minutes, bear. Can you get your pants?”

Harry looked at him thoughtfully and then suddenly grinned broadly. “Yes!” He got to his feet, while Draco held out his jeans, but baby Harry just ran out the open door.

Widening his eyes, Draco jumped up and followed him into the Common Room, where his ward climbed up the couch next to Pansy. “Pans!” he stated, which made Draco laugh out loud, not caring what everyone else might have to say about it. Well, there weren’t many other people around except for his best friends.

“Hi darling!” Pansy smiled and hugged the toddler. “Shouldn’t you be going to visit Teddy now?”

Harry squealed. “Teddy!” A burst of accidental magic brought his very own teddy bear to him and he laughed, while Draco shook his head. It had actually been the very first action of his magic and Draco thought it was awesome!

“Bear, get your pants on and we can leave and visit a friend!”

“Pans!” His ward repeated and grinned up at Pansy.

After an initial confused look, Pansy laughed loudly and ruffled through Harry’s ward. “Oh darling, I think Draco means your _pants_ not me!” She pointed at the jeans and Potter seemed to understand, climbing down from the couch and willingly put on his baby sized jeans with a little help from Draco.

Shaking his head, though still smiling fondly at his ward, they made their way towards McGonagall’s office, where they would be using her fire place to go directly to Remus’. In his letter, he had written that they were going to inspect the house James Potter had left them and that if everything worked, they would be moving there even before Christmas had come. Most of Teddy’s things were already there and so Remus’ suggested they'd meet there.

From the few letters they had written, some weird kind of a relationship had started and Draco didn’t really want to put any kind of trust in there that it actually would stay, but he was hoping. The letters from Remus had actually helped him a lot and he had also helped his former professor with whatever knowledge he had in helping a child fall asleep and anything else Remus’ would have needed. Well, he wasn’t sure this relationship would last long. But he damn right wanted it to.

When they – finally - entered McGonagall’s office, after having climbed so many stairs that his ward had sat down after a little over half and refused to climb any more for a solid five minutes – he saw her sitting behind her desk. Well, she looked up, before she smiled at them. “Malfoy, be sure to be back before curfew.”

Draco frowned slightly. “No specific time?” he dumbly asked.

The headmistress luckily didn’t set a time. “No. I trust you know when it is time to be back. Since I already have all your essays and I’ve spoken to Severus as well and he had them too, you are clearly free to leave.”

“Thank you!”

And so, after picking up Potter and stepping into the fire place, they floo’d over to Remus’ place. Stepping out of the floo, Draco stepped on a small car-like object and started slipping. He lost his balance and saw the world turning on its side. Already about to cast a protective spell over his ward, he felt sudden helpful hands, pushing him upright.

Once he had found steady ground again and gotten over Potter laughing wildly over this little adventure, he turned around to face Remus, holding up his hands in apology. “I am so sorry, Draco. I was just about to clean up.”

Draco chuckled to his own surprise and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s all fine. Nothing happened, right?”

He had now a little time to look at the house and the man. Actually, Remus looked rather relaxed and he was wearing comfortable clothing, which Draco would have actually preferred, but his damn pure blood upbringing had drilled it into him that you should always go out looking the nicest you could. Well, the house was huge. With only Teddy’s belongings, the massive living room looked even bigger. So, Potter Senior had given away his slightly smaller mansion. The walls were very white, though still dirty. Maybe that was because it hadn’t been used for quite some time.

As if Remus had read his mind, he smiled at him and pointed at a small wardrobe. “There were thousands of small creatures here. At least we could go through most of the house and eliminate them rather quickly. Now, I only have about two Boggarts left, which I do need to find some time to fight. Quite possibly after Christmas. We're not moving here before Christmas, but a little work now surely would be lovely.”

Nodding, Draco looked at the old, almost falling apart wardrobe. “Should you need any help, just let me know.”

“Thank you, Draco.”

He motioned him to follow him and they walked through the living room the stairs and up to the second landing. There, they entered a smaller room and Draco found a crib with a sleeping baby. Teddy was as tiny as he remembered Potter being when he first saw him. Well, the only odd thing was that he had baby blue hair. He was calmly asleep in his crib, Remus’ using the same alteration of the silencing spell which Draco had used. He had shown him and his former professor had been over the moon with it. Apparently, his son was a very light sleeper and with this, there was no problem anymore.

Harry looked into the crib and then widened his eyes, turning to Draco. “Baby!”

“Yes, bear. It’s a baby. His name’s Edward.”

Remus smiled. “Or Teddy for short.”

“Teddy!” Harry grinned broadly and before Draco had any time to react or even say anything, his ward’s accidental magic had – once again – made his own teddy bear appear right in front of him. In the air. Draco was immediately ready to catch it, before it would fall into the crib and when he did and gave it back to Potter, his ward squealed happily.

“Interesting” Remus said and smiled at him.

“Yes. Happens a lot. As of lately.”

Remus chuckled and when Potter looked up at him, he pushed a few strains of hair out of his face. When he turned back to Draco, he said: “Yes, you two look like a very well organized team.”

Draco laughed. “Well, I suppose by that you mean Harry trying to break everything and me trying to get him to do something else, such as playing with his toys.”

“If you say it like that, exactly.” Remus motioned Draco to follow him and they walked to the corner where two small chairs had been placed. They sat down and Draco placed his ward on the floor, where he started playing with his teddy bear.

Soon enough, there was a soft cry to be heard and Remus got up to bring his son closer. He was about eight months old and was already the world fastest crawler.

“He started much earlier than Harry did” Draco remarked and looked at his ward, who seemed to be fascinated by the new baby around.

Actually, Harry sat on the floor, next to Teddy and waved weakly. “Hullo!”

Well, Teddy squealed and after not even two seconds, both boys were deep in their playing. Harry was actually an angel, it was so cute how he played with Teddy and actually took care of him as well.

Remus walked over to Draco and sat down again. “So, how old is Harry now?”

“About three.”

The werewolf frowned as he watched his son play with Harry. “Did anything else happen from when Madam Pomfrey last checked on him to now?”

Draco narrowed his eyes. Where was this going? “No, nothing was broken or anything.”

“It’s not always physical, Draco.” Remus sighed and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. “A lot of times it can also be mentally. If I were you I’d just go to Madam Pomfrey and ask her to do whatever magic she does to find out what happened in the mean time.”

Yes. Remus was probably right. However, Draco really didn’t want to know what had happened from then to now. Potter seemed to have the worst childhood imaginable. And he somehow didn’t want to find out which torture devices his relatives had used…


	21. Chapter 21

It was the third time today that Potter had squirmed, something was quite clearly amiss. Adding that to the teary eyes of his ward, Draco thought it was best to stop the growing process and carefully picked up Potter. He had already wanted to visit the mediwitch after what Remus had told him, however he simply just hadn’t had the time. Well, courage was the better word. And yes, McGonagall and Severus had suddenly given him two essays each and Professor Sinistra along with Professor Babbling had also given him (and the whole class actually) an essay each. So, arms full of essays, he had wanted to at least plan what he wanted to write about. Well, now was no such time and he headed over to the Hospital Wing, so Madam Pomfrey could look at Harry. It was necessary, he believed.

Luckily for him, the Hospital Wing was absolutely empty, apart from the mediwitch sitting at her desk. When she saw him enter, she got up rather quickly. “Everything alright, Mr. Malfoy?” she asked, though Draco knew that this was just formality. Nobody entered a Hospital Wing when everything was alright… at least that was his theory.

Draco played Harry on a bed and shook his head. “Something isn’t normal, I just want to know what happened.” He really didn't.

Madam Pomfrey nodded and once again cast a spell over Draco’s ward. And once again, a parchment appeared, which Draco definitely didn’t want to read, but knew he had to. If he wanted to understand how Potter was ticking, what his problems were, he needed to know. Whether he wanted or not.

The mediwitch looked at the parchment, eyebrows raised and sighed, before handing it to Draco.

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
>   2. **17 months old** : Officially adopted by the Dursley family
>   3. **22 months old** : Fell down the stairs – being pushed by his cousin, some bruises on legs and arms
>   4. **2 years, 1 month old** : Official bedroom – Cupboard under the stairs
>   5. **2 years, 3 months old** : Jammed right arm between cupboard door and wall while being pushed out of the way – clean break, no healer visit
>   6. **2 years, 8 months old** : No food for two weeks
>   7. **2 years, 11 months old** : blamed for mess that wasn’t his – imprisoned in his cupboard for 10 days
>   8. **3 years, 1 month old** : sprained left wrist – cousin attached a rope to it and pulled him around the house and garden for a day
> 


“What the fuck is going on?! He’s just three years old!” Draco was fuming. That little shit of cousin should burn in hell forever – as the Muggles said. Well, no. All of his relatives should burn in hell. “No food for a fortnight?! How did he even survive that?!”

Madam Pomfrey looked extremely worried. Well, Draco wondered how she never found out about something like this. Surely, Potter had been in the Hospital Wing for quite some time. Why had she never looked at his history? He had broken bones, sprained wrists and… he had been too thin for his age. Now he knew.

Pansy would be furious. Actually, when he thought of that, he had to bite his tongue, so he wouldn’t just start giggling – very inappropriate for what they were facing right now.

Well, the mediwitch got to work immediately. She cancelled Draco’s spell and healed the sprained wrist. She then cast a Patronus, sending for Severus, calling it rater urgent, before giving the toddler in front of her something to eat.

Severus entered about one minute later, looking rather annoyed. When he saw the toddler on the bed, his expression immediately changed and Draco hated himself for wondering why he would do something like that. What had happened between the two of them that something like that happened?! He looked so worried as if... as if he actually cared.

There was no use in trying to get his godfather talking. He had already tried it and it hadn’t worked out so far! Maybe one day he would tell him… Or actually, maybe one day Potter would tell him. However, he wasn’t really hopeful something like that was going to happen.

“Poppy, what happened?” he asked, slightly breathless.

Without a word, she passed the parchment to him and he read it through, growing even whiter with every line he read.

Finally, she started speaking. “I need you to brew a nutrient-rich potion. I’m well aware that Mr. Potter’s fast aging makes it a little hard, however, I believe that we can start giving him this potion before he turns four years old.”

Severus nodded. “I have already started one. It will be ready in two days.”

Draco frowned. “How do you have a potion already?”

“I feared the worst, Draco, and I prepared for it.”

Once Severus left again, Draco wanted to pick up little Harry, when Madam Pomfrey walked closer again. “Mr. Malfoy, I would like you to promise me to come here once a week. We need to keep this under control. Whenever you think something is wrong, come here immediately. From what I could gather from the Injury Parchment, I think also need to focus on his future mental problems. They might not come, but we should be prepared.”

Yes. Madam Pomfrey was correct. Well, she probably had heard it from Severus, but that didn’t count right now. What if Potter actually had mental problems due to whatever had happened in his childhood? They needed to have things prepared should that happen.

“In the mean time” Madam Pomfrey continued and looked a little calmer. “In theory, if we – as wizards – find an eyesight problem early on, we can fix it with young eyes.”

Draco looked down at Potter, playing with some strings on the bed. “But do his eyes count as young eyes?”

“We could try” Madam Pomfrey offered. “There’s nothing to lose and it won’t hurt.”

Draco couldn’t see anything wrong with it and so he nodded. She grabbed her wand again, casting some kind of complicated spell, which resulted in Potter jerking up and staring up at them. He suddenly seemed so much more… awake.

“Dray!” Potter called out and a huge smile grew on his face, as he held out his tiny arms towards Draco. “I see good!”

“Hi bear! How are you doing? Can you see _well_ now?”

Lifting his ward into his arms, he smiled softly. Madam Pomfrey chuckled. “I think that is resorted. Next time you come here, I’ll check up on his eyes again, but I believe everything is okay.”

Thanking the mediwitch, Draco made his descent again with the toddler on his arm. He was now looking everywhere, suddenly extremely interested in everything. Draco had quickly decided that it was the cutest thing ever.

Inside the Common Room again, Draco put Potter down and walked over to his friends, sitting behind the book case. Millicent was very focused, quill between her lips as she searched for something in a book, while Blaise spread almost every Transfiguration’s book he had found in the library (and that was allowed to be taken out of it) on the couch, sitting in the middle of this mess. Pansy sat cross legged on the other couch, reading a Muggle Romance novel, which she had actually gotten from Granger. Harry was following quickly, once he realized that Draco moved along and when he sat down on the couch, his ward climbed up, sitting between Pansy and him.

Blaise looked up from his own mess and grinned at them. “Look at the happy family! Where’s the camera, Mil?”

Draco threw him a glaring look and rolled his eyes. “Grow up, Ze!” He had wanted to say more things, when Pansy interrupted them quickly by simply grabbing a picture book which was lying between the two angry parties.

Potter beamed when he recognized his favorite book about Mama Bear and he started naming a few objects in the drawings. Finally, at the end, he pointed at Mama Bear and beamed at Draco. “Bear!”

Blaise, Pansy and Draco laughed and the latter hugged his ward. Meanwhile, Theodore had walked closer and frowned at them. “What in Salazar’s name are you laughing about? Slytherin’s should be emotionless creatures! Well” he smirked, “according to everyone else, mind you.”

“I’m bear!” Potter repeated and his eyes were practically glowing when he turned to Theodore.

This made even him laugh. “I see” he grinned. “Do you know your actual name, then?”

While his ward was thinking for a bit, Draco ruffled through his hair and suddenly Potter looked up and nodded. “Yes! Ha…rry” he carefully said, emphasizing the Rs a lot.

Draco noticed that the Gryffindor looked at him for a little help and so he bent down and whispered (loud enough for Theodore to hear) “James.”

“James Potter!” Grinning, Potter finished his name and repeated it again, probably just because he could. “Harry James Potter!”

“Very good, little one!” Theodore praised and Potter grinned broadly.


	22. Chapter 22

Hogwarts was in Christmas cheer. The décor was festive, the noises were buzzing with excitement and some ghosts even sang Christmas songs – though not even close to this century. Draco walked the third time only this day around a pack of hungry girls occupying every last bit under all the magical mistletoes and only leaving a small passage for some poor unlucky guy to walk through.

Rolling his eyes, he jumped into the shadows, as he saw a few girls canvassing the hallways for doomed souls. Well, he had always hated Christmas time at Hogwarts, however, now – with him taking care of a toddler – the girls had started to get extremely weird. He almost hadn’t noticed it, but when he had wanted to go and help a Ravenclaw who was almost failing potions (apparently), Pansy had quickly caught him and told him not to trust anybody, as it was the biggest goal of any girl (who was squatting the mistletoes) to get him to kiss her.

He had even once been saved by Granger, when he had wanted to walk around a corner, where she had just come from, and she just grabbed his cloak and pulled him with her. For a second he had thought she was going to punch him again and he wondered what he did to her. Well, that was before she started to talk. “You’re not going to take this route, Malfoy. There are at least ten girls, hoping to see you. You need to start getting a little more unpredictable.”

“How do you even know? Maybe they’re waiting for others.” Draco had rolled his eyes and tried to free himself.

Actually Granger had let go of him, but glared intensely. Draco had suddenly understood why Weasley and Potter had believed her to be the strongest (and best) witch. It wasn’t wise to anger her.

“They were cackling about when exactly you would appear, Malfoy. And also about how much you’ve grown into a man, since you started taking care of Harry.” Granger had huffed and looked real unhappy. “I don’t think any of them even understand what it means to take care of a child.”

 _Long sleepless nights, a lot of poop and tons of watery eyes_ , Draco had thought, though he also remembered all of his ward’s laughter and happy faces Potter had done. Well, this had been their discussion and they soon parted ways.

As Draco peered around the corner, he found the hallway empty and sighed, rushing through it as if he was being followed by a werewolf in full transformation. Oh yes… That was something he had always feared. This damn werewolf in their mansion… Had he turned into a werewolf (which he had continuously threatened to do), Draco would have been next. Once again, his sorry excuse of a father hadn’t even considered that Draco might have been scared shitless. Well, he was.

Reaching the security of his Common Room, Draco entered it, only to find almost everyone standing around with packed things. Christmas hadn't really arrived in their Common Room. It looked just like always, but it felt different: even the air in here was buzzing. Rolling his eyes, Draco zigzagged between all the people and walked through the bookcase up a few steps into the secret garden.

There, baby Potter was enjoying the early snow with Pansy (who had been in the Common Room faster and already gotten Potter from Lovegood’s care) and while the witch was forming snowballs, Potter threw them at Theodore and Blaise who tried (or at least pretended) to get out of the way from them. But they were hit a lot and Potter laughed loudly and threw a few more.

Millicent sat on a blanket, calmly reading a book while hiding away under a warming charm. Grinning, Draco quickly forgot about his meeting with Severus, where he had told him that due to his reputation and position in the war, his favored job as an Auror was not going to work out. They wanted people with clean registers, such as Potter or Weasley. People who had fought on the right side and won.

If he was honest though, he had never been willing to become an Auror. He had just told Severus that he wanted to become an Auror to get his father furious, with which he had succeeded. So actually, it was a relief to not have to go into this job. The only negative point there was that he once again had no idea what he wanted to become.

“Dray!” Potter called out and instead of running at him, a flying snowball almost hit his head.

Draco ducked away and looked at Potter who giggled. “Oh, you want to play like that, bear?” He grabbed a fistful of snow and threw it at his ward. Not hard enough to hurt him, but he wanted to hit him in the stomach. Pansy quickly stepped in front of Potter and it hit her on her neck.

She screeched as it clearly got into her clothes. Blaise and Theodore laughed loudly, until they got some snow into their jackets as well and soon there was a full on snowball fight going on. Draco snatched up Potter and they joined Millicent under her Warming Charm bubble.

“Using my magic, are we?” Millicent asked and closed the book grinning.

“It’s comfortable under here. I don’t have to use my magic, you’re not alone… Potter likes it here as well and… should Pansy throw snow here, it’ll melt as soon as it hits the Warming Charm” Draco explained smirking. "So, yes."

Draco couldn’t say much more, since his ward suddenly looked up at him and widened his eyes. “I have cookies? Pansy promise.”

“Oh, big words, bear!” Draco was impressed, when Millicent chuckled. Raising a questioning eyebrow at her, she explained quickly.

“Pansy taught him a few words, such as ‘promise’ and she’s been trying to make him say ‘may I have’ instead of… well nothing. Didn’t really stick, now, did it?” Mil winked at Potter who actually snorted.

He then turned back to Draco and looked towards the sky as if he was reciting something else. Well, it turned out… he was. “May… I cookies! Have…” Potter frowned, now completely confused by the strangeness of the English language and he rolled his eyes, sitting down on his arse, a little deflated.

Draco chuckled and ruffled Potter’s hair. “Don’t worry, bear, you’ll get it soon enough. What did you do today?”

“Eat.”

That was a very simple statement and Draco couldn’t stop himself and he chuckled. “You ate? That’s all?”

Potter frowned and shook his head. “I shoe game!”

Draco narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “You… shoe? Did you kick a game? Did you play…”

Millicent laughed loudly. Apparently, she had figured it out rather quickly. “It’s French, Dray! He played a game. Play… _jouer_.”

Looking down at Potter, who beamed at him, he finally joined Millicent’s laughter and pulled Potter closer. “Very good, Harry!”

“Thank you!” Baby Potter answered, grinning.

They couldn’t continue talking, as Millicent’s Warming Charm bubble was suddenly showered by snow. Pansy, Blaise and Theodore were throwing snow after snow over the bubble, which melted it all. While the Slytherin’s laughed, Draco caught Potter’s shocked expression. Something was going on; quite possible a memory. However, he didn’t know and he wanted his ward to feel safe again.

So, he pulled Potter onto his lap and got hold of his wand without taking it out of his sleeve. “Should we shower them with a little snow, bear? What do you think? Wet, cold snow?”

Potter widened his eyes and nodded suddenly, grinning broadly, visibly feeling better. Draco was happy that he seemed to relax. “Okay, let’s try this.” He grabbed his wand and pointed it at his friends. “ _Nix Procidens!_ ”

Snow fell down on them as if it had just fallen from the roof top and they all stood there frozen, trying to figure out what had happened right now. Potter was snickering and Draco chuckled, grabbing his ward and running inside, where they were definitely not going to cast the same spell on him – at least that was what he hoped. It was worth though, seeing his ward laugh so loudly, after seeming so scared.

Draco didn’t even want to know why he was that scared. That was something for the injury parchment, which he didn’t want to read. He just wanted his ward to be happy and growing up content. Whatever it took.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for another chapter with the Injury parchment, I normally try not to have them back to back, but it is kind of important now, so here it is… Also, since I am already making a comment: THANK YOU! You are all awesome and I love how much you guys enjoy this story. You are awesome!

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
>   2. **17 months old** : Officially adopted by the Dursley family
>   3. **22 months old** : Fell down the stairs – being pushed by his cousin, some bruises on legs and arms
>   4. **2 years, 1 month old** : Official bedroom – Cupboard under the stairs
>   5. **2 years, 3 months old** : Jammed right arm between cupboard door and wall while being pushed out of the way – clean break, no healer visit
>   6. **2 years, 8 months old** : No food for two weeks
>   7. **2 years, 11 months old** : blamed for mess that wasn’t his – imprisoned in his cupboard for 10 days
>   8. **3 years, 1 month old** : sprained left wrist – cousin attached a rope to it and pulled him around the house and garden for a day
>   9. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of accidental magic – put out a kitchen fire his cousin started – no food for 7 days as punishment
>   10. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of malnourishment
>   11. **3 years, 5 months old** : housework – do parts of the dusting
>   12. **3 years, 6 months old** : got knocked out by a ball, thrown by his cousin – mild concussion, no healer visit
>   13. **3 years, 10 months old** : housework – weed the garden
> 


Draco rubbed his forehead when he read through the Injury Parchment. There were no more words left. It wasn’t even surprising anymore, but the sheer amount of _things_ happening to his ward was just… appalling.

Granted, there were some months without any incident, however, the months with accidents or events were getting more and more worrying. At three years old, he already showed signs of malnourishments?! Six months later he was hit unconscious which included a mild concussion and nobody seemed to care?!

Let alone that there seemed to be some chores that a three year old boy should definitely not be doing. Do the dusting? And weed the garden? He wasn’t even four years old!

And of course did he not like magic, when he was punished after having done _something good_ by using magic. These relatives should be thrown into Azkaban or whatever the Muggle version was of it. No, actually, Draco wanted them in Azkaban. At least when the Dementors had still been around: They would have sucked the souls out of their bodies. If they even possessed one. No person would do something like that if they had a soul.

Draco had thought that his childhood had been unfair, but reading this, he was ashamed of himself. Doing chores once a week and helping house elves cleaning the table every other day was _nothing_ compared to what Potter had to do. And he was only three (almost four) years old. Draco’s chores had started when he was eight!

Madam Pomfrey walked over with the Injury Parchment and some medicine. “Mr. Malfoy, I didn’t show all of the injuries; your ward had an untreated Pneumonia.”

Draco frowned. “He had what? What is that?”

“It’s a Muggle decease, mostly that is. It affects the lungs, so the patients have difficulty breathing, they’re coughing, have a fever and chest pain. Usually, people will realize that and they bring their children to the doctor, but…” She wordlessly pointed at the Injury Parchment, where Draco saw the new bullet point.

Before he could ask what he should do about it, Madam Pomfrey, already started talking. “Don’t worry, Mr. Malfoy, I’ve already cured it. For us, it’s nothing special; we can just heal it like that.”

Draco sighed and looked down at his sleeping ward. He looked so peaceful, as if nothing could hurt him and actually, Draco had to fight the tears. Luckily, Madam Pomfrey had her back turned again, so she couldn’t see what was going through his mind. Or rather facial expression.

The door of the Infirmary opened quickly and Draco turned, back towards door, rubbing over his eyes, so he didn’t look as if he was about to cry – or at least that was what he was opting for. Depending on who it was, he really needed to look cold and emotionless.

“Oh, I thought I might find you here” a familiar voice sounded.

Draco rolled his eyes and turned around to look at his godfather. He actually looked a little tired, but held a good dozen small potion vials in his hands. The liquid was shimmery and slightly see through, though mostly silvery. “The nutrition potion” Severus said and handed him the open box with the vials.

“Thanks” Draco answered, looking down at them.

Before he could say more, Madam Pomfrey had turned around and looked incredibly happy. “Thank you so much, Severus! This will surely help little Mr. Potter to gain back any kind of health reducing problems he had had. We’ll start with two vials a day” she looked at Severus to see whether or not he was agreeing with her, before she continued. “And after a week we’ll check up on it again for the next week.”

Well, it was a one week after the other kind of way. Actually, Draco had been doing that with his ward either way. The first week was really bad, since he had hated to be around him, but now… He really wanted to make sure that Harry could get the best childhood possible. It was weird to think that he might have been doing a better job than his _family_ , well relatives.

*

“Dray?”

Draco woke up to a soft voice right into his ear. He jerked up and quickly produced a wandless Lumos, looking at a clearly frightened Harry. The magic light core was flying steady in the air, shining a light at his pale ward.

After their visit to the Hospital Wing, Draco had brought him back and woke him up quickly for the very first nutrition potion, which according to Harry tasted like poop… However, he had received a lot of praise and two pieces of chocolate from Theodore, over which he was really happy and even agreed to taking more of the potions, in exchange of him getting chocolate.

“Bear, what’s wrong?”

His ward looked down at his feet, obviously ashamed that he had woke him up and he was biting his lower lip. Draco bit down a groan as he sat up in his bed crossed legged, not wanting to stress Potter even more, and he motioned the little boy to come closer.

“You know you can tell me anything, right bear?”

Potter nodded reluctantly.

“So, what happened?” Draco repeated himself, trying his hardest not to sound demanding. Harry walked closer to the bed, where Draco simply picked him up and placed him on his lap. “It’s okay, bear. No one’ll hurt you.”

“I…” Harry trailed off again, while Draco patiently waited, ruffling through his ward’s hair. That had always seemed to be something that calmed him down. And after a long break, he actually started talking. “I dream of monsters” he whispered, looking into Draco’s eyes.

There was a tear rolling down his cheek and Draco quickly brushed it out of his ward’s face. 

“Monsters don’t exist, bear” Draco said cheery.

What. A. Lie.

In both their lives they had encountered so many monsters – in human and animal form – that his statement was such a huge lie; he had to put all his energy into his emotions, to keep up the pretend. On the inside, he was trembling, he wanted to start crying as well, but he needed to be happy for the sake of his ward’s own sanity. Even if it was slightly breaking him. Was this what parenthood was like?

As if his ward had read his mind, Harry shook his head. He continued whispering: “It was all real! I feeled the… the… real!”

“You felt the… reality?” Draco helped slightly and narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean bear?”

Harry held out his arms into opposite directions and while it took Draco a while, he suddenly saw him pretending to be flying. “Dragons! Centaur!” Draco frowned, slowly realizing where this was going. Pansy had read him a Muggle fairytale last night and apparently, that hadn’t been the best decision they had made. “Big snake! Big… person!” Harry stopped, shocked expressions on his face again and basically cried out “Monsters!”

Draco couldn’t pretend it didn’t get to him. He hugged his ward tighter and pressed a kiss on his forehead. “Whatever happens, Harry, there are no monsters you can’t fight. And if you’re scared, you can always come to me and we’ll fight them together. Okay?”

“I’m not… strong!” Harry shook his head. “I’m scared.”

Draco smiled weakly. “Courage isn’t about being strong enough to run into the next best fight, bear. Courage is about being afraid, but still taking the next step. Being prepared. And I will help you with it. I promise.”

“Can I sleep here?”

“Yes. Of course you can. And do not feel guilty for waking me up, bear. If anything’s going on, I’ll be here for you. Okay?”

Harry nodded and as they lay down, he snuggled into Draco’s embrace. The Slytherin felt as if his heart was exploding, it meant so much to him. Harry Potter trusted him. So much, that he actually wanted to be with him, when he was scared! This meant the world.


	24. Chapter 24

“Someone had a sleepover, I see!”

Draco groaned and opened an eye to see Pansy standing in his room. She had her hands at her hips and raised her eyebrows at him once she realized he was awake. “Why wasn’t I invited?”

Shaking his head, Draco was just about to ask her what the hell she was talking about, when he realized that there was a small boy in his arms, still deeply asleep and looking incredibly happy. His hair was even wilder than before and it actually made this little Gryffindor look even calmer. Which was somehow a weird combo.

Yawning, Draco turned on his side, not removing the arm he had over his ward, to keep him safe, and grinned at his childhood best friend. “Alright, Pans. Next time he comes looking for me after a nightmare I’ll send him to you.”

“He had a nightmare!” Pansy’s eyes widened and she immediately walked closer, sitting down next to Draco on his bed. She placed a hand on the small boy’s back and looked down at him worryingly. “What about?”

“I think his memories returned, or at least some of them. They were in form of dreams.”

Pansy interrupted him right before he was able to talk about what he was dreaming off. “What were they about?”

Even if he wanted to, Draco couldn’t remember all of it. “I think… dragons” He narrowed his eyes in thought and looked at the ceiling. “He said something about big snaked and people…”

“Well, big people might be the Giants. I mean, they were in the Battle of Hogwarts” Pansy thought aloud. “As for the… big snake… Do you think it was The Dark Lo…”

“Don’t.” Draco closed his eyes, seeing Nagini in front of him. Slytherin through the halls of the Manor. How he wished he could forget these nights, where he was sitting in the middle of his bed, staring at the slightly open door, praying to _someone_ that the snake wouldn’t enter. His father had hurt him badly once when he had closed the door out of fear of this damned snake. The Dark Lord didn’t like closed doors – people could be talking bad things about him, theoretically. So all doors had to be open at all times.

A snap right in front of his eyes brought him out his trance like state. He blinked quickly, adjusting to the reality again and sighed. Pansy shook her head softly and smiled. “Draco, don’t go there. We’ve talked about this and you know you can’t change a thing.”

Well, the snap had woken up Harry as well and he made a soft noise, still half asleep, when he turned and looked at Draco. However, he was clearly still sleepy, so he simply changed his lying position and closed his eyes again, exhaling in the process and rolling himself into a ball again.

Pansy was quietly dying, as she clearly tried to suppress her “aw”-sounds which did get through in the end. “I can’t get over how cute baby Harry is!” She suddenly sat up. “Oh shit, that reminds me: Weasley and Granger are outside, officially including you into their holiday visit to the Weasley’s.”

“Wait… what?!” Draco sat up and stared at his best friend. “You can’t just say it like it’s nothing! I… I fought them! I tried to… I was very bad to all of them!”

Nodding, Pansy shrugged her shoulders. “I know. There’s nothing you can do. Granger already told me that she won’t take ‘No’ for an answer. And I mean… we both know what happens when you try and go against her wishes, right?”

“But Aunt Bella tried to kill… all of them! She tortured Granger for Salazar’s sake!” Draco remembered the screams in the Manor, echoing through the halls and the whole house actually. He had wanted to run then. He had wanted to free Potter and his friends and make a run for his own freedom. But he couldn’t. There had been Death Eaters everywhere and his father had known him too well. Positioning him in his room and he stood at the door, checking up on him.

Pansy didn’t seem to have an answer for that, she simply shrugged her shoulders – again. “You said Granger caught you before you got yourself into danger… So, I think she’s forgiven you. And I think the invitation came from Mama Weasley, who need I remind you sent you jumpers for little Harry to wear. You really should at least go once. Introduce Potter to his future in-laws and try and get along with them.”

“I hate you.” Draco glared at her and got up, waking Potter in the process. “Come on, bear. We’re going to see family! It is Christmas after all.”

Since Potter was almost four years old (Draco wasn’t sure whether or not he had just had his fourth ‘birthday’), he let him dress himself, while helping with a few things. All in all, the little man had dressed himself in a deep red Weasley jumper, midnight black pants, different colored socks and a hat which he was refusing to take off, even though they were inside.

When they walked outside, Draco opened the door towards the Common Room and turned around looking back at Harry who ran after him giggling. He suddenly stopped and widened his eyes. “Teddy!” he called out and was about to turn around, when his favorite toy appeared out of thin air right in his arms. “Teddy!” He grinned as he presented it to Draco.

“Well done, bear!” Draco praised and grinned. “Now, come on! We’re going to be late!”

His ward giggled, as he rushed by Draco, right into Lovegood’s arms. “Hello Harry!” she greeted him and lifted him up, while Draco felt his old friend jealousy coming back. “How was your day yesterday?”

Draco walked closer, while Harry suddenly started talking and talking _and talking_ about everything. He didn’t stop once until they reached McGonagall’s office, where they floo’d over to the Weasley’s.

It was endearing to Draco how much his ward was talking, however, he could see Weasley rolling his eyes more than once at this little man talking that much. For the sake of a nice Christmas for Harry, Draco decided to ‘ignore’ Weasley’s problems. Potter actually seemed very happy and after what had happened last night, he was glad to see him that way.

Well, while Harry was just as happy as always (a little more talkative as usual), Draco was actually really nervous. Even if Weasley’s mother had been nothing but nice to him, sending him all kinds of things and little tips, it was different to meet someone on person who had… actually destroyed his aunt. It wasn’t that he was scared of her, but… she was a scary woman.

As they floo’d over, one by one, Draco saw Lovegood floo over with little Potter and was left behind. For a second, he thought about going back to the Slytherin Common Room, but Weaslette grabbed his arm and pulled him into the fire with her. She had clearly read his mind.

“You’re not going anywhere, Malfoy. We’re going to celebrate Christmas. As a family.”

“I honestly couldn’t care less, Weaslette” Draco rolled his eyes, while she grinned and shrugged her shoulders, bringing them to her home.

Luckily, Draco had decided to floo there (well, actually he hadn’t been given a choice) since Potter was quite literally standing in front of the fire place, waiting for him to arrive. As he did, he almost stumbled over him, though caught himself quickly.

He did fall to the floor, but Harry simply took this as an invitation to climb on top of him and start talking about everything he knew about Kneazels. Which Draco was sure he had all heard from Lovegood in the few seconds they were alone.

A voice made him look at the door frame, and he quickly jerked up. “Draco Malfoy! How nice of you to visit!”

It was Molly Weasley.


	25. Chapter 25

Being inside the Weasley house was weird. The atmosphere compared to the Manor was incredibly different – it felt warmer, cozier and happier. The walls were full of pictures and the patchwork furniture matched the feeling very well: if it fit, it could stay. The Manor was cold. The white stone walls had never really done anything to lift the spirits. And well, the artwork consisted of hundreds of portraits of moving pureblood peer pressure. There was no safe place from their judgement. Not even his own room and he had hated it. Here, in the Weasley's home, he had not been able to see a portrait. The only thing that interested him was the clock on the walls, with spoons and the Weasley's name on it.

Draco looked up, slightly uncomfortable, almost scared and swallowed a lump. Why was he so nervous to talk to Molly Weasley? He quickly got to his feet, even though Harry was hanging around his neck and propped the toddler on his arm, so he could continue talking into his ear. Which he luckily decided to take a break from.

“Mrs. Weasley. Thank you for the invitation, it was very kind of you” he started, wanting to add a few more touches of mannerisms to his pureblood etiquettes, when she simply interrupted him.

“Nonsense, Ginny told us how you’re taking good care of Harry, Draco.” Her eyes wandered to the toddler around Draco’s neck, who was by now looking around the room very interested. “You are always welcomed. And please” she smiled, “call me Molly.”

A little taken aback, Draco nodded and returned the smile. “Thank you… Molly.”

Granger grabbed him and made him sit down on a couch, when little Potter saw his chance and sat down, grinning broadly, on his lap. He started to once again, talk about Kneazels, while Weaslette threw him an apologetic look.

Mrs. Weasley entered again, carrying a huge Treacle Tart, which made Potter look up very interested and she placed it on the small wooden table in the middle of all the couches and arm chairs. Her eyes then wandered over little Potter again, who curiously stared at the tart, before looking back at him.

“Dray, can I have one?” Harry asked very quietly.

Smiling softly, Draco shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. You can ask Mrs. Weasley, bear.” He motioned towards her and the Gryffindor looked at her hopefully.

“Hi. I’m Harry James Potter, can I have some of this?”

“Of course, Harry!” she smiled, as Weaslette on the other couch reminded Draco a lot of Pansy, since she was squealing into a cushion, trying not to make a sound. And just like Pansy did every time Potter did something even remotely cute... she failed. 

Harry climbed down from Draco’s lap and walked over to the tart, pointing at the piece he would like to have and while Molly gave him this piece, the door opened and two identical people entered, stopping once they saw Potter. Draco was already suspicious. He did not like the curious glances they were throwing at each other, even though they also looked very curiously at the presents under the Christmas Tree in the corner.

“Who is this?” the first red-headed twin asked.

The other grinned, as they both walked into the living room. “Look at this little war hero!” The other twin squatted down as if to inspect small Potter and Draco felt his protector instincts rise again.

He huffed and shook his head. “Guys, leave him alone. I don’t want him to be scared because he thinks he’s seeing double.”

“Ha! Nice one” the twin with a G on his sweater said – probably George.

“Yes, I would almost believe you! How do we know you’re not torturing him inside that little Slytherin dorm you have, Malfoy?” the other one – quite possibly Fred – said. He got up to his feet again and was just about to add something else, when the little Gryffindor defended himself.

Before Draco could say anything, Harry stepped between him and the twins and glared at them. “No!” he yelled and shook his head. It reminded Draco a lot of when Weasley had tried to get small Harry out of his arms on their first play date.

The twins were taken aback and held up their hands in mock surrender. “You trained him well, Malfoy” George said and there was hint of mischief in his eyes.

Draco sighed. “I didn’t train him, guys.”

He didn’t have to defend himself more, as Weaslette jumped in, followed by Granger and even Lovegood. All of this - actually this whole situation - was so new to Draco that he had no idea what he should do.

“Fred, stop thinking bad of him. Harry actually really likes Malfoy and the Slytherin clan can’t seem to stop talking about him!” Weaslette said.

Granger agreed. “In Defense, Parkinson couldn’t stop talking about him. Actually, neither could Zabini or Nott. I truly believe that they would do anything to help Harry getting older again.”

“There are a lot less Nargles around Harry, since he came to live with Draco.”

The last sentence was met with silence. Everyone shut up and turn to Lovegood who smiled at little Harry, as he climbed back up the couch, sitting down next to Draco. The toddler beamed at Draco, clearly unaware of what was happening, while he grabbed a fork full of the Treacle Tart.

George raised his eyebrows looking at the little man. He then turned to Draco and held out his hand. “If Ginny _and_ Hermione think you’re doing good things, I believe you.”

“And Luna knows a lot of secrets, so I think you’re alright”, the other one said.

Draco accepted the peace offer and they shook hand. Soon after, Fred joined as well and they took a piece of treacle tart each, disappearing into the stair case again. Through all of this commotion, Mrs. Weasley, well Molly, sat in her chair, watching with wise eyes over what was happening. And Draco actually caught her raising her eyebrows when Harry climbed up the couch to sit next to him. 

However, whatever she was thinking, she kept it to herself, which made Draco feel a little… weird. It wasn’t uncomfortable, since she had made sure to make him feel at home (as much as he could feel that way), but… Well, his mother had always reminded him to be a pureblood. As nicely as possible, however, she was always talking. Molly not talking could mean a lot…

Before Draco was lost in his own mind, Potter jogged his elbow and smiled at him. “Dray! Can I go play?” he asked and pointed at the twins standing in the door frame again and grinning at them.

“Of course, bear. You know you don’t have to ask me” Draco reminded him and little Harry grinned, nodding.

He jumped from the couch and landed on his feet (and hands), almost making the left over Treacle Tart fall down, though Draco caught it. Well, Potter ran through to Lovegood, asking her to join and while she nodded enthusiastically, Weaslette joined as well. Draco frowned slightly, asking himself why Potter wouldn’t ask him to join, but he decided not to pressure his ward and also his own mind.

While the other started playing hide and seek (one of the Weasley twins counting loudly), Molly came closer and sat down on the arm chair next to Draco’s. Granger and Weasley walked up the stairs to quite possibly get some alone time and that meant… he was alone with Molly Weasley.

Now was definitely a talk happening. Draco knew mother instincts very well. He had to be good at reading them. Sometimes, his mother was in a mood to play and he could pretend not to do things she wanted him to do. Or he could allow himself to talk back a few times, making jokes. As time had went, his mother had gotten a very short temper, freaking out at every little word joke and resistance. It was better to just do what she said. Draco knew that the presence of the Dark Lord had freaked her out as much as it had him. Additionally to the werewolf, the Snatchers and whatever other creature they were hosting in the Manor.

“Harry seems happy” Molly started and smiled softly.

Draco nodded cautiously. “He is.” Both were looking at each other, expecting something else. Draco waiting for another question, Molly probably wanting him to elaborate a little. Well, Draco complied after a few quiet seconds, in which only the twin’s counting could be heard. “He has a few setbacks… We need to visit the healer weekly, other than that, he’s very happy. He laughs a lot.”

Molly smiled, looking over to her son, who had just finished counting and called through the house that he’d be going to look for them.

“I have to admit, I’ve never seen him this happy. When we saw him at the end of the summer or other times, he did look… well” she seemed forlorn in her mental images. Her whole face seemed to fall, as she seemed to remember something.

Draco narrowed his eyes, remembering seeing Potter on the Hogwarts Express. He had always looked happy, though compared to this small laughing boy, it was just a shadow of happiness. Well, he had read the Injury Parchment. Potter had only just reached his fourth year on earth (maybe a few more months, since he was aging so rapidly) and… what they did to him was horrendous. Draco did not want to find out what else was there to find.

Molly had never read the Injury Parchment, maybe she just figured out that not everything seemed as it was. Whatever it was that made her lose sight of reality, she suddenly inhaled and cleared her throat. “Well, I never thought I would say that, but he actually looks very happy and comfortable around you.”

“For now” Draco said and smiled sadly. “He’s getting all the memories of the age he’s in. Once he’s eleven, he might hate me.”

Weaslette walked into the living room, followed by one of her brothers, and she frowned. She had clearly heard what he had said. Instead of her mother, she was now replying. “Well, he most certainly will hate you. That’s clear. From what I’ve heard from Ron and Herm…”

“Ginevra!” Molly turned to her and shook her head disapprovingly.

Draco almost succeeded in hiding a grin, which Weaslette actually detected and narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t say anything else, though. Simply put her hand into the air and grinned again a second later. “Just stating the obvious, mum! I’ll be in the kitchen, making salad or something.”

Molly turned back to Draco and smiled apologetically. “Don’t think about that, Draco. I have been a firm believer in everything going as it should go. Hardships happen, it’s called life. We go through a lot that we don’t want to. It makes us stronger. In my opinion” she looked at the door, where one of the twins had gotten the other one and they were just talking about making a deal to hunt down the others. Which consisted of Harry and Lovegood.

“In my opinion” she started again, turning back to him, “Harry growing up in the Slytherin’s care – yours specifically – could show him another side of himself. From what I can see, you’re doing a good job.”

This statement meant more to him that he was ready to admit and Draco nodded. “Thank you, Molly!”

They stayed quiet for a few moments, until the twin with an F walked into the room, frowning. “Hey, have you seen Harry? We’ve been looking for him for a while now. No one has seen him. We... we can't seem to find him.”

Draco thought his heart skip a beat as he felt his panic take over. Potter was gone? He almost jumped to his feet, before he walked closer to Fred Weasley, trying his hardest to hide any emotions under his pureblood trained mask. he failed miserably. “What do you mean you can’t find him?!”


	26. Chapter 26

“Harry?!”

“Harry, where are you?!”

“We’re done playing, Harry, come on!”

A lot of voices called through the house. Everyone was looking for the little boy. Lovegood checked behind the Christmas tree, the twins systematically looked into all of the rooms, Molly even prepared a spell that could locate Draco’s ward. By now, even Granger and Weasel had come out and helped looking through all the rooms. Weaslette stayed in the kitchen, looking at all of the cupboards and…

Draco stopped dead in his track and turned to the kitchen. The cupboards. What did the Injury Parchment say? _Official bedroom – Cupboard under the stairs_. Maybe young Harry thought it was a good idea to hide in the cupboard, not realizing that it could potentially bring him back to his past memories. And all the people yelling his name, surely wasn’t helping!

He hurried over to the stairs, checking for something and while there wasn’t a cupboard under the stairs, there was a hatch in the walls, quite possibly leading to a storage room. Draco softly knocked at the door and carefully opened it. The door definitely needed to be oiled, since it opened with a loud creaking noise.

In the inch of what the light could touch, Draco found Harry’s scar, the unruly set of hair and eventually his eyes. He looked so scared, tears on his cheeks and he was shivering. His back was at the very end of the storage room, knees up to his face and he protected himself with his arms around them.

Draco made sure not to come off as a threat and he sat down, a little bit away from the door, so that Harry had the potential to run away, should he want to. Additionally, he wanted to remind little Harry that he was not his family. He would never be these stupid relatives that hurt baby Harry.

“Hey bear. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you!” he said while he smiled and crossed his legs. He wordlessly accio’d Harry’s teddy bear and sat him down in front of him. “You remember him, don’t you, bear?”

Harry looked at his toy wide eyed. Not because he was curious, but because he was still scared. He hadn’t stopped shaking and when he looked up at Draco, another silent tear ran down his cheek. Draco had to fight his instincts not to run into the storage room and hug his ward tightly. It made his heart hurt so much, seeing him scared and freaked out and not being able to help.

“Bear, don’t you worry, it’s fine. I’m not going to hurt you.” This wasn’t working. How could he bring his ward out of his hiding place and into his arms?

He frowned slightly and then held his hand out – palm up. “Bear” he continued using this name, hoping it would bring back some memories of his happier childhood. “Look what I can do.”

In his isolation, he had read thousands of books about mist magic. It was a special kind of magic used for children with trauma and even PTSD. The magic had a healing component and was also calming them down along with giving comfort. Draco was sure that had Harry grown up in a wizard environment this magic would have been used on him.

And so, he created a mist magical story over his palm. The story was about nothing in particular. It was just soft whitish magic, almost like a Patronus, just instead of blue it was white. Since it looked so soft, most children were apparently drawn to it. At least that was what he had read. He had never practices it outside of the comfort of his own room, when he had needed a little bit of a reminder that life was going to turn around eventually.

When Draco looked up and towards Harry, he had at least taken down his arms around his knees and he had even stopped shivering. Actually, he seemed mesmerized by this kind of magic and after a short while, he crawled a little closer. Only a little, though it was still a huge win in Draco’s book.

“What are you?” Harry asked not louder than a whisper.

Smiling softly, Draco answered just as quietly. “I’m a wizard, Harry.”

It was clear to Draco that he was talking to the young Harry who grew up with his relatives, not the one who was laughing at him, accidentally accio’ing his teddy and asking Pansy to create magical snow balls. Proudly presenting Theo his teddy when he had gotten it out of thin air again and asking Blaise to read him a magical goodnigth story. This boy did know nothing about the magical world.

“Wizards?” Harry frowned. “But that’s just fairies and… things. Not real.”

“And what am I then?” Draco asked and smirked. “Am I not real?” He touched his arm and pretended to be looking at himself, while little Harry actually showed a ghost of a smile. “Do you think I’m a ghost?” Draco asked, touching his arm again.

Harry tilted his head and his face actually transformed into a weak smile. “I don’t know.” He seemed about to ask a question, when his face fell again. Apparently, he remembered something and was just about to go back into his hiding space, when Draco decided he needed to jog his memory a little.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the twins standing at the door towards the kitchen, and they stood there in the perfect view of little Harry. So, before his ward could get back into his own head, he turned to him and grinned.

“Hey, bear, watch this.” He winked at him, when he turned to the twins and said loudly “Nix Procidens!”

A whole pile of snow fell down onto the twins (just a little revenge for having lost sight of Harry). The room was filled with muffled screams from under the snow and after a second, there was a huge fit of laughter following out of the cupboard.

Draco turned around to see Harry lying on the floor, laughing loudly. His eyes were twinkling again and he immediately recognized his ward again. This boy was the one he had raised. Draco felt his heart lighten again. Without thinking too hard about it, he had managed to get Harry back into his happy positive mind state. His ward ran out of the cupboard and fell around his neck.

“Hey there, Harry, how are you doing?” Draco asked, completely ignoring the twins who had freed themselves and shot warming charms at each other.

“I win?” Harry asked and looked around, grinning at the twins.

Draco chuckled. “Yes, you did! Nobody could find you! Good work, bear!”

“Thanks, Dray!”

It looked as if he had forgotten about what had happened in the cupboard and Draco was very glad this happened. When he got up and turned around, Harry on his arms, the entire Weasley family (and guests) stood there, looking at him. By now even the patriarch had come home and they just stood there for a few silent moments.

Draco felt his face heat up and he looked at Harry, who was playing with his teddy, oblivious to all the attention they were getting.

“Well” Molly then said and smiled at him warmly. “I do believe this answers all the questions we had lined up for the whole evening.” She clapped her hands and shooed them all into the living room, where the candles were burning at the tree. “Let’s celebrate with a few presents, shall we?”

In the warmth of the Weasley home, Draco felt happy again – for the first time in a long, long duration. The only thing that usually could give him this happiness was Harry, when he ran around, played with them and just was his happy self.

Harry had gotten so many presents, he had no idea what he should play with. Weasel gave him a toy broom, which Harry loved. Granger presented him with a plush owl toy that looked like his first pet and the others also gave him a lot of plush toys. However, Harry had his eyes set on his favorite teddy.

Draco had not given Harry a present. It was a letter to him. A promise to go and pick another pet, once he was eleven years old. Severus had always said that boys needed pets to take care of and learn responsibilities. His father had never believed that. But Draco decided to do whatever _he_ thought was right and for some reason this felt right.

There was a small commotion, when Weaslette and one of the twins realized that their mother had accidentally wrapped the other’s jumper (since both started with G) and both had decided not to give it back and wore it around the house, even though it did absolutely not match their body types.

Molly was horrified, most Weasley’s were laughing and Weaslette and the twin enjoyed telling everyone. All in all, it was an amazing Christmas and Draco had absolutely loved being part of this family, even if it only was for one (not even complete) day.


	27. Chapter 27

Christmas went over without any incident. And soon enough, Hogwarts was filled with people again. A lot of Gryffindors came by to give little Harry a few presents. Draco was on the edge about this, while most Slytherins started to hate it the longer it went on.

Actually Finnigan came by to say he was sorry – again. Draco had accepted the apology, even though he had rolled his eyes afterwards. This Gryffindor should start to stand up to the mistakes he had done. Maybe… no Draco was sure: This was a blessing in disguise. Because Harry being a child actually gave him the opportunity to grow up, having an actual childhood. Living with them was surely giving him a lot of happy memories.

And just like he had done at Christmas with the Weasley’s, Draco wanted to add more memories so that his bad childhood was nothing more than a shadow at the back of his mind.

Well, what Draco had done before the new year started again was bring Harry to Severus. They had sat in his office, drunken hot chocolate and Harry had explained a few things that weren’t important to remember. It was just a random story about a Kneazel family. Severus had asked a lot of questions, interested in everything.

Just like that, Draco had also felt his confusion return. And his jealousy. His own godfather had wanted to spend with little Harry, but when he was a child, it had always looked like Severus could have never run away the fastest. Well, it was probably his parents and had nothing to do with him. Draco knew that whenever they spent time together (alone), they were pretty close.

And so, tomorrow school would start again. On that particular morning, nobody was expecting anything, when the door to the Common Room opened. Well, none of the people present inside the Slytherin Common Room were taking interest in it, since Draco and his friends were sitting behind the book case, talking for a little bit before breakfast. They had started this little tradition a few years before, but abandoned it in the face of danger and now that everything was quiet again, they enjoyed sitting there talking. It made their last Hogwarts year look a little quieter.

Everyone jerked up, however, when Harry walked towards them with five plates skillfully balancing on his arms. It had been a few days since they had celebrated Christmas at the Weasley’s home and Draco had forgotten to check up on Harry’s age, since everything had gone so smoothly since then. Harry even took his nutrition potions without as much as a bad word. However, seeing this… He definitely needed to go to the Hospital Wing as soon as possible.

Draco quickly cast a spell to make the plates float towards the table and Millicent jumped up to make sure that Harry hadn’t hurt himself by lifting them down to the dungeons.

Little Harry looked shocked and then embarrassed as he shook his head. “It’s okay! Nothing happened! I made breakfast and I didn’t know what…”

Pansy interrupted him softly. “Harry, darling, come here and sit.” She patted the couch seat next to hers and smiled encouragingly. It didn’t really help, as the Gryffindor still looked like he was scared out of his mind.

“Bear, how did you even find the kitchen?” Draco asked, while he got up and picked the clearly frightened boy up, to have him sit on his lap again.

Blaise looked slightly guilty at this and cleared his throat. “I… I showed him how to get into the kitchen, we got hot chocolate when you were in Hogsmeade” he explained. Draco only glanced at him. He wasn't mad, since they spent a lot of time in the kitchens - all of them.

Harry nodded. “It’s not Ze’s fault if anything is not good. I… they were mad that the eggs are never done right and I…”

“Who is mad at you?” Pansy widened her eyes and got up from her couch. “I will crush them and…”

“Sit down, Pansy!” Draco rolled his eyes. It took Theodore to pull her back down so she didn’t go and hurt anybody – most likely the house elves. However, Draco had his own suspicions that Harry was currently mixing a few memories with reality and he looked down at his ward who was still scared that something had happened. “Bear, you know you don’t have to make breakfast for us, right? You’re only five years old! You can use this time to go play and do things you like!”

Harry shook his head. “They said I’m a freak for not being able to cook sooner… And I’m not able to cook the eggs exactly as they want and…” There were tears streaming down his face, which Draco gently brushed away, before pulling him closer and rubbing his back, while Harry was now sobbing into his chest.

Theodore had by now seemingly come to the same conclusion as Draco and he narrowed his eyes, looking at the plates. Blaise was completely out of his comfort zone which you could clearly see, however, he stayed, probably hoping that there was something he could do to help. Draco was really glad that his friend - even though not comfortable - could be trusted to stay around.

As Harry was slowly calming down, Pansy sat down next to Draco, so that Harry could see her easily. She placed a hand on the boy’s knee and smiled warmly. “Darling, you are no freak!” she said softly. Harry turned his head slightly, tear stricken eyes looked at hers, while Draco was still rubbing his back. “You are a very handsome, little prince, darling! And princes don’t have to cook for others. And we all love you very much and it doesn’t matter that… that the eggs aren’t good or that you have a few problems. We all have them. It’s normal, dear.”

“It is?” Harry asked in a weak and trembling voice. He turned to look at Draco who put both his arms around him again, hugging him tightly.

“It’s absolutely normal, bear. And you know what? You don’t have to cook for us, because of the house elves, you saw them right?”

Harry nodded and swallowed. “Yes, they made Ze’s chocolate. And mine.” He rubbed the tears out of his eyes and nuzzled into Draco’s chest.

Draco nodded. “See, bear? They want to work in the kitchen. We like to eat food, so… All good.”

Millicent ruffled through Harry’s hair and when he looked at her shyly, she gestured to the food he had made. “Do you want us to try your food or should we go the Great Hall and get some food there?”

Harry smiled weakly. “If you want, you can try it. I don’t think it’s good, but…”

“It will be good, bear.” Draco said and rubbed his back again.

They took the plates and Theodore spoke up. “Where’s your plate, Harry?” He asked and looked at the child, as he seemed to realize that there were only five plates and there were six of them.

Draco bit his lower lip, looking down at his ward. He didn’t want to know what was going on, though he really needed to know why Harry hadn’t made six meals. He also had a sneaking suspicion as to why he did that... He really wished it wasn't true.

Harry hesitated, before whispering something that made Draco’s blood freeze. “Freaks don’t get to eat with everyone else.”

“Bear” Draco started and held Harry a little tighter. “What did Pansy say when you said you were a freak?”

Even though it was clear that Harry knew exactly what they were talking about, he squirmed a little bit and shook his head. Pansy smiled, conjured another plate and separated hers into two. “You are our Slytherin Prince, Harry! Princes get to eat _before_ the rest!”

It made the little Gryffindor grin a little and hid his face in Draco’s chest. “She’s right, bear. Now, eat what’s on your plate.” Draco gave Pansy the silent order to give Harry half of what was on his plate as well, so he had a full plate and could actually eat everything. Pansy followed order and once Harry was showing his face again, she held his plate out towards him with a fork.

“Eat, darling!”

While Harry grabbed the plate (Theodore handing him the nutrition potion), Draco made a mental note to go to the Hospital Wing as soon as he had time. He had a lesson this afternoon, but after he was free and he was definitely going to look at the Injury Parchment. It didn’t feel good.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A slightly longer chapter for you :) Because you are all so awesome!
> 
> Also, I do realise that I wrote fluff (most of all) and I haven't really delivered that in the last few chapters, so after we're looking at Harry's Injury list again, there's some fluff for you :)

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
>   2. **17 months old** : Officially adopted by the Dursley family
>   3. **22 months old** : Fell down the stairs – being pushed by his cousin, some bruises on legs and arms
>   4. **2 years, 1 month old** : Official bedroom – Cupboard under the stairs
>   5. **2 years, 3 months old** : Jammed right arm between cupboard door and wall while being pushed out of the way – clean break, no healer visit
>   6. **2 years, 8 months old** : No food for two weeks
>   7. **2 years, 11 months old** : blamed for mess that wasn’t his – imprisoned in his cupboard for 10 days
>   8. **3 years, 1 month old** : sprained left wrist – cousin attached a rope to it and pulled him around the house and garden for a day
>   9. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of accidental magic – put out a kitchen fire his cousin started – no food for 7 days as punishment
>   10. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of malnourishment
>   11. **3 years, 5 months old** : housework – do parts of the dusting
>   12. **3 years, 6 months old** : got knocked out by a ball, thrown by his cousin – mild concussion, no healer visit
>   13. **3 years, 10 months old** : housework – weed the garden
>   14. **3 years, 11 months old** : Pneumonia – no healer visits
>   15. **4 years, 3 months old** : No food for 9 days
>   16. **4 years, 4 months old** : imprisoned in cupboard for 16 days
>   17. **4 years, 7 months old** : sprained right ankle – no healer visit, healed correctly
>   18. **4 years, 8 months old** : housework – mop the floors
>   19. **4 years, 11 months old** : accidental magic – cleaned kitchen – no food for 9 days as punishment
>   20. **5 years, 3 months old** : housework: make all the food
>   21. **5 years, 5 months old** : caught stealing crumbs from plates – no food for 6 days as punishment
> 


Draco was by now at a stage, where he was only glaring at the Injury Parchment wordlessly. These damn relatives. Cooking at an age of 5? Mopping the floors? He was being treated worse than a house elf! At least house elves were treated and healed if they hurt themselves (which only occurred once every 100 years). This should have by no means been the injury list of the Holy and Saint Harry James Potter.

Yet, it was.

Draco handed back the parchment to the mediwitch and sighed, glancing down at the boy sitting in the bed, playing with Severus’ teddy bear as if nothing in the world was wrong. Madam Pomfrey shot him a meaningful look and walked back to her work desk, where she grabbed a few more potions and salves, or whatever she had stored there.

No wonder Harry had been so protective of his friends his whole life. He had never felt what it was like to have people having his back. And when he had it at Hogwarts, he was doing everything to keep them.

Sighing softly, Draco remembered how he had talked bad about everyone who liked to stay beside the Golden Boy. He was a monster, if he thought back. Knowing all of what had happened in Harry’s life, Draco was unsure of how he was still alive.

Actually, how was Harry still alive?!

At any point, he could have given up. No food for two weeks? Eating _crumbs_? Staying in his dark cupboard? Well, apparently that was how Harry had come to be so strong. He tricked the Dark Lord, so he thought he was dead. He survived being hunted by the entire army and some additional people for over a year! And while the Dark Lord sat in his comfortable throne, Harry was out fighting.

Draco looked at Madam Pomfrey who started to talk right now. It was a welcomed distraction from his own mind.

“Mr. Potter looks very healthy. Do I have your consent, Mr. Malfoy, on doing another spell to see what his new stats are?” she asked.

Draco frowned. “What do you mean new stats?” He was aware that he wasn’t answering her question, but he would rather know what was going on with this thing than making a decision too fast.

Madam Pomfrey seemed to understand what he wanted, without him having had to say something. “Well, the Injury Parchment provides us with the necessary information about his past and luckily, we can fix whatever is broken.” She smiled, while Draco nodded, still slightly confused. The mediwitch continued. “So, what we’re doing now… or rather what I _would like_ to do is check his actual stats. You have given him all the nutrition potions I ordered. This surely had changed his history. Maybe they’re no longer needed, maybe we need to adjust them… This would all be written in the other parchment.” She looked at the Injury Parchment, which was getting longer and longer, before she turned back to Draco and smiled apologetically. “And don’t worry, this spell would only tell us what’s going on with him right now.”

Well, yes, that convinced Draco rather fast. He agreed and Madam Pomfrey did the spell. The parchment that came out of this spell was rather uplifting, Draco thought. It basically stated that Harry had a normal and healthy body. Nothing was broken, no other problems, no illnesses and most of all: his body height was appropriate for his age.

The mediwitch smiled at him and let them go. Before they left however, she made Draco promise that he would give the nutrition potion once every other day to his ward as a precaution. And well, Draco agreed. Seeing the Injury Parchment, Draco was sure that there were a lot of other foodless days.

Back in the Common Room, Draco sat down in their favorite spot. Pansy and the others were in Hogsmeade, enjoying a lazy Saturday. And so, Draco decided to do a few things for his homework.

Well, that was until a small voice made him stop what he was writing. “Dray?”

“Yes bear?” Looking up, Draco saw his ward biting his lower lip, as if he wasn’t sure what he was doing or wanting to ask. Draco frowned and placed his quill down, as a sign that his full attention was on him.

Finally, after a few silent moments, Harry had apparently mastered the courage to ask what had been on his mind. “Why are all the stories about boys with very bad stories?”

There was a moment of silence, in which Draco tried to figure out what Harry had wanted to know. Whatever it was, he had no idea what Harry asked. “I’m afraid, I can’t follow. What do you mean?”

“Ze read a book.” His ward stopped again and bit his lower lip again. After he was about to start talking again and stopped quickly, he finally inhaled and said what he wanted to say. “Peter is just… just like me, Dray. He has no parents. And then… then his rabbit gets killed and he decides not to let any pets die and he opens a zoo or something and he…” Harry had started rambling, while Draco sat up in his armchair.

“Bear, if it’s only one book then…”

Harry shook his head. “But Pans read one as well. And it was Jeremia. He’s an orphan on the streets and he wants to be a famous architect. And they do a lot of things and in the end he…”

Draco decided to interrupt this, he knew where this was going. Jeremia didn’t make it. He needed to ask Pansy to stop reading dramatic stories or fairy tales. And yes, this book was in French and Pansy probably read it to him so he could train his language. 

His mother had read the book to him and he’d had nightmares about this book for a week and his French wasn’t even that good. But Harry had actually gone far beyond his own French skill set, so… who knew what Harry was going through.

“Why is this so important to you, bear?”

Harry was about to cry, Draco could tell. He quickly picked up his ward and placed him on his lap. “Am I like them? Theo told me about my mum and dad. I’m an orphan and nobody loves me and they call me…”

“Nobody loves you? We all love you, bear!” Draco ruffled through his hair and smiled at his ward. He placed his arms around him and pulled him closer. “You are a wonderful person and amazingly smart and I know you won chess against Mil last night!”

Even though Harry wanted to talk about something else, he started talking about the other topic. “She made me win! And Ze swapped two pieces.” Draco’s ward placed his head on Draco’s chest and snuggled closer.

Draco smiled down at him. “You still won, didn’t you? The point is; don’t let anybody else tell you what you can and can’t do. You are your own master.”

They were quiet for a while and Draco had a weird feeling that Harry was looking for a reason to receive a hug. He made a mental note to hug his ward a few more times. Well, he was definitely also looking for answers about the thing that was going on in his head with Jeremia and all the other boys.

After a few silent moments, Harry looked up and beamed at him. It seemed as if he had forgotten about the drama before. Or as if he was just coming to terms with it. Well, what his ward wanted was a complete surprise to Draco. 

“Dray, can we invent a story, please?”

Frowning slightly, Draco narrowed his eyes. “Invent a…? Oh, um, yes. But I’m not that creative, bear.”

“I don’t care. It’s _our_ story!” Now Harry was positively beaming. This seemed to be very important to his ward.

“Alright.” Draco shrugged his shoulders and grinned. “Who’s the main character?”

Harry thought and suddenly grinned widely. “His name is… Ravo! And he’s a penguin.”

“A penguin?” Draco just about managed not to laugh. Alright, whatever his ward wanted.

Nodding (overly enthusiastically), Harry confirmed his selection of hero. “Yes!” It was actually really cute how Harry seemed to be so happy. Even now that he was inventing a new story, he couldn’t seem to remember all the hardships he had gone through.

Draco smirked when he thought that had Pansy been here, she would have definitely fought hard to not say ‘aw’ every other second.

“Okay. So what’s the story about?”

Once again, Harry was lost in his thought, though he answered still rather quickly. “He… wants to go to school.”

“I feel a but coming…”

“ _But!_ ” Harry called out laughing and dramatically threw his hands into the air. “He’s too young. And his older brothers all go to school and he has to stay at home with Mama Penguin.”

Draco frowned. This sounded a little too familiar. “Bear, is this about me going to lessons while you stay with Pans or Luna?” He ruffled through his ward’s hair, while the little boy frowned.

“What? No, it’s about a penguin! And his name’s not Harry, but Ravo!”

Well, Draco was still rather sure that it was about him. Maybe he needed to ask McGonagall for a few more favors. Maybe he could get Harry into a few lessons, even though he was only five. Astronomy or Charms seemed to be harmless and maybe he would also have fun or be interested in them.

“Okay. So, what does he do then?” He decided to go with what Harry wanted. It wouldn’t make sense to talk to him about that right now. They were inventing a story.

Harry grinned broadly. “He follows his brothers to school! Can you start writing?”

“Of course, bear.” Draco grabbed his quill and some unwritten parchment and started writing, while reading aloud what he was putting onto the paper. “Once upon a time, there was a small penguin in...”

“Madagascar!”

“Mada… What?” Draco frowned at his ward and grinned shortly after. “Who told you about this place?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders and grinned at him. “Ginny said they have nice weather!”

“But penguins can’t live there! The weather is _too_ warm.” Draco couldn’t resist a smirk and he even chuckled, while Harry explained his reasoning for putting a penguin onto that island.

“Well, Ravo likes warm weather!”

Draco chuckled again. He turned back to his parchment and continued writing. “Okay. So, there was a small penguin in Madagascar. He wasn’t very happy, because while his brothers went to school, he stayed at home. With Mama Penguin.”

Harry nodded and added another sentence, which made Draco feel slightly uncomfortable. “But he likes Mama Penguin a lot and he’s always nice and helping her!”

Draco frowned, remembering all of what he had read on the Injury Parchment and tried to somehow write a better story about it… “Yes, he always helped her, but Mama Penguin made sure he had a lot of fun. One day, Ravo decided that he wanted to go to school as well and he packed his little bag with…”

Looking expectantly at Harry, Draco waited for the little boy to come up with what he was packing. The Gryffindor narrowed his eyes in thought and quickly said some objects. “Chocolate! Chocolate, strawberry cakes and… his teddy bear!”

Draco grinned and repeated what his ward had just said. “Okay. He packed his little bag with two pieces of chocolate, a piece of strawberry cake and his favorite teddy bear called…”

“Herbert.”

“Herbert?”

Harry nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! And the strawberry cake is called Ian.”

This time, Draco couldn’t contain his laughter and he shook his head. “Um… we’re not naming strawberry cakes, bear.”

“But it’s my story!” Harry crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows in a similar fashion to what Pansy and Millicent usually did when they had a different opinion. Draco smirked.

“Alright, okay. We’re naming the cake.” Draco looked at the parchment and started writing again. “He packed his little bag with two pieces of Chocolate, a piece of strawberry cake named Ian and his favorite teddy bear called Herbert.”

“Yes!” Harry beamed at him. Though before they could continue, Theo entered the Common Room and dragged them outside again to the lake where they had put down a fort of warming charms and enjoyed the rare afternoon sun. Neither Draco nor Harry could refuse. The story had to wait for another day.


	29. Chapter 29

Okay, so Draco had a terrible secret. Not really terrible, but he would never ever want anybody to find out about it. He loved… Muggle romance movies. They were terrible – nobody ever met like that in real life anyway and how they portrayed the love and things that happened had always annoyed him.

However with time, Draco had figured out why he had it bad for these movies: It was the small movements that got him. The male character slightly looking up, lopsided grin on his face, when he turned back to whatever he was doing and the female character catching this grin.

The female character hugging her fiancé and her hand moved only slightly over his back. When two characters kissed, the thumbs brushing over the cheeks or a close up on a hand on the lover back, just resting there.

Two characters clearly in love with each other and the man winking at his love, while she giggles and tries her hardest not to come off as completely on love… Or the slowly growing grin on both their faces which somehow had turned into a love-struck expression.

There were thousands of small actions that made Draco fall deeper in love with these terrible romance movies. The plot wasn’t important, it was almost always the same: girl and guy meet, they hate each other, become friends and end up as lovers after something went wrong, such as a misunderstanding or something like that.

Well, Draco’s favorite thing was in a very old movie – at least he thought so – when the female lead blinked slowly, smiling with a tilted head and wet her lips turning back to the paperwork on her desk. The male character put his thumb under her chin, slightly raised her head and looked her deep in her eyes.

“I want to marry you!” he said. His suit was uncared for, as he had just had this revelation and ran through the streets to find her. His hair was completely messed up, but his eyes were glowing and sparkling. And yes, in real life that would never happen, but every time this happened in the movie, he found himself squealing about how cute these two were together. He always sounded like Pansy when Harry was cute.

She would shake her head and smile sadly. “I’m a nobody. Why me?”

And he would lean in, kiss her softly on her lips and keep his eyes closed just a millisecond longer than she would. Draco’s heart was always racing at this point. It was everything he had always wanted.

“You are everything to me. We’re soulmates. I loved you ever since I first saw you.”

A total lie, but they both smiled at each other and she just got up, left her work behind and they flew to Paris to get married on Valentine’s day… How incredibly corny. Draco couldn’t get enough of this movie!

And yes… he could basically say their dialogue with them. He had watched this movie at least a hundred times. Whenever he was annoyed by the reality he lived in, he would turn to this movie, be gone for ninety minutes and feel his heart warm by it.

However, whatever happened, he made sure not to show anyone his love for this movie or any romantic Muggle movie actually. He wasn’t sure that his friends would understand. And as a pureblood you shouldn’t really be attracted to these things, but once he found them (and realized he could escape reality that easily), he couldn’t let go.

Well right now, he sat in his room, having just finished watching his favorite movie again. Not a second later, the door was opened and Pansy appeared, though right now she looked completely different.

Draco quickly covered the old TV standing in the corner and put another notice-me-not charm around it. Luckily, his best friend seemed to be concentrating on something different.

Well… she looked different as well. Draco’s eyes widened as he saw her golden, blondish hair. “What did you do, Pans?!” he asked, unable to believe that she actually changed her hair color.

Pansy scowled. “Why don’t you ask Harry?” Not a second later, she grinned again and turned around. “Come on, Harry! Show your guardian what you did to your hair!”

“Oh no.”

It was pretty clear to Draco that he needed to expect the worst. And… yes. The small, almost six years old Harry Potter entered, sporting a rainbow of colors on his head. It seemed as if he couldn’t decide what color to go with, so he took them all on different strains of hair.

Draco stopped dead in his track, narrowing his eyes. It looked… actually really good! If he had a little longer hair, you could actually style it differently and make some really nice looked with his hair.

“Draco!” Pansy frowned. “I don’t like that look!”

“Why, Pansy, my dear friend?” He grinned and walked over, ruffling through Harry’s hair.

His ward beamed at him. “You like it?!”

Draco smirked and crouched down. “I love it! It really suits you!”

Harry laughed loudly and clapped his hands. He fell around the neck of Draco, who just started to stand up again. So, he grabbed him and stood up, looking at Pansy who slowly shook her head, though wasn’t able to hide her smile.

“You are in hot water, Dray! I didn’t change my hair, it was Harry!”

Draco looked down at his ward, who grinned and nodded proudly. “And why are you so interested in hair, bear?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I want to change your hair as well.”

“And you can choose to do that? If you can, you’re already a very good wizard, bear!” Draco added and smiled at him. There was an air around his ward that seemed to be happy and careless. And he loved it. Harry really needed to feel that way. And well, if it was up to Draco, he would see to it that it would never ever change again.

Well, his ward beamed. “I am a good wizard! Look!” He closed his eyes, pretending to try his hardest to do some magic.

Draco chuckled, ruffling through the rainbow colored hair, clearly not believing his ward could do something like that because he wanted to. Pansy was probably an accident and when he realized what he could do, he had changed his hair into something he loved. Changing Draco’s hair color was pretty much impossible.

But, then again… Harry had always been rather skillful. Draco suddenly frowned, wanting to tell his ward something, when Pansy burst out laughing. Widening his eyes, Draco touched his hair, looking at the ends and finding it in different shades of blue and purple.

“Harry…” Draco said and closed his eyes, shaking his head. “Did you just change my hair to blue?”

His ward squealed when he saw his hair and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes!”

“Why?” Draco touched his hair again, grabbing a few more strains and looking at it. It was so weird! The color was magnificent. It was beautiful and even though it was a five year old wizard who changed his hair, it was perfectly done. Almost professional.

Harry beamed at him. “I like water. And you now have a waterfall! You’re like a waterfall.”

Pansy chuckled and walked closer. “You’re a waterfall, Draco!” she grabbed his hair as well and looked at it just as curious as Draco had a few seconds earlier.

“And why pray tell am I like a waterfall, bear?”

His ward looked almost as if he was dreaming when he answered. “You’re loud and ob… ub…” he frowned and shook his head, apparently having a hard word to say, before he continued. “… ob-noc-us…”

Draco smirked. “Obnoxious” he corrected and Harry nodded.

“Yes! You’re that. And people don’t feel safe depending on where they are. Like, when they’re on top of a waterfall on a boat! But if they get to see you, they know that you are beautiful and nice and you can protect them. Like you protect me.” Harry explained and smiled at Draco. “So I like your hair!”

In the meantime, Draco’s smirk had transformed into a smile and he kissed Harry’s forehead. “Thank you, bear. I will protect you with my life and I have to admit, I do like this color as well!”

“Really?!” Harry asked happily and he threw his arms around his neck.

“Really.” Draco answered.

Pansy had tears in her eyes and she quickly brushed them out of there, so Draco wouldn’t realize she had them, but he knew it. And he loved his best friend for it. She had a hard shell, but she would protect her friends with her life as well. And right now, Draco was sure that Harry had become to be one of these people as well.

Actually, Draco was sure he had been on that list ever since he started calling Pansy ‘mama’, though he didn’t do it anymore right now. That didn’t matter: Pansy was always going to look after him, just like he would.


	30. Chapter 30

Draco was fuming. Not really because Harry hadn’t found a way how to undo his hair changing spell (and Draco kind of liked his new blue and purple hair style and Harry’s rainbow coloured hair strains). They had just had their weekly Hospital Wing trip and what he had learned from the Injury Parchment had once again killed him on the inside. His aunt (called Marge apparently) had been visiting and actually _broke his fucking leg_ , when he had beaten his cousin in a freaking game! A game!

Also, he was now six years old and from the looks of it, he had been given the entirety of the housework. According to the Injury Parchment, he hadn’t started school until a few months in, when his peers could already read and write, because his aunt and uncle tried to keep him hidden for a little longer. It said he never really had the time to learn how to write and read properly.

They needed to teach him that.

As Draco entered the Common Room with Harry trailing behind him, he held the door open and his ward skipped through it, happy to see his friends again. Draco thought it was just too precious when he ran up to Millicent and asked her whether or not they could go outside and play in the snow. It had snowed over night again and in the secret garden, there was tons of new soft white snow.

Millicent wasn’t going to say no and after ten seconds, Blaise and Theodore followed, clearly up to something (most likely a snowball fight). Draco sighed and fell onto the couch furthest away from the entrance and the best hidden from everyone else.

These fucking relatives had destroyed Harry’s childhood. He had been nothing but a cute, little baby and they made him to be terrified and scared for his life. Once again, Draco wondered how he hadn’t ever found out about it: He had known almost everything about the holy Saviour. But not about this. Well, his friends had also told them that they didn’t know about most of it. 

Draco sighed and closed his eyes, when he heard footsteps approaching. Opening his eyes, he found Pansy crossing the room and sitting down on the couch next to his. “What happened? Where’s Harry?”

“Outside, playing with Mil, Ze and Theo” Draco explained and closed his eyes again.

He knew that his best friend was narrowing her eyes. He was not behaving as he usually did: First of all, he was lying on a couch alone – not really a pureblood thing to do. And secondly, he wasn’t answering all her questions, he had never done that. Well, he usually didn’t do it.

“Dray” he voice had a warning sign in it and Draco sighed again, sitting up.

Looking at her, he saw actual worry in her facial expression. “It’s not even that bad, Pans” Draco tried to appease her.

His best friend knew him too well and shook her head slowly. “Don’t try this with me, Dray. Theodore or Blaise would believe you now. I _know_ you. Tell me”, she demanded.

Nodding, Draco gave in. She was right, she knew him too well. “Okay. It’s the usual things: Too much housework, food withdrawals, now it’s even sleep deprivation. The new things are... His aunt or whatever broke his leg and he now gets beaten up by his uncle with a belt. The weird things you saw this morning on his back – they’re scars. Madam Pomfrey believes they never really healed. That means he still had them when we met for the first time...”

Pansy had narrowed her eyes and her expression had become harder and harder the longer Draco was talking and now she looked as if she could murder them all. Actually, that was how he felt as well.

“Pans, he can’t even read! They kept him from starting school until everyone could read. And now he has to be in their class – humiliated and everything, because he can’t read...” Draco shook his head, even trying to think about what Harry must have gone through was hurting him badly.

His best friend crossed her arms. “Okay. So it’s time to teach him how to read I guess.”

Draco nodded. Before he could say something else, Pansy smiled slightly. “Good thing Blaise and I have been reading to him for the past few weeks. He’s asked me a few times to tell him about the letters in a word and I helped him. He can already write his own name. We’ll just continue and I tell Blaise to help him with reading and writing French.”

She got up and walked outside, leaving a slightly bewildered Draco on the couch. His friends were the absolute best people he had ever seen! They had unknowingly already started teaching Harry what he was missing from his first education.

He was brought back to reality a few minutes later, when Pansy sat down next to him again and nodded, as if to say that Blaise was okay with their plan. Draco smiled gratefully.

“Hey Dray, do you still have that book from Madam Pomfrey. You know the one she gave you when you were made magical guardian of Harry?” Pansy asked, trying her hardest to appear nonchalant.

Draco grinned. “Yes, I do. Why’d you want it?”

Pansy glared at him, quite clearly realizing that he was playing with her, or at least wanting to know more. And then, she sighed. “Okay, so we both know that Harry went through a lot of stupid things, right? I want him to learn what actual… age appropriate tasks are. But to be honest, I don’t know where to start, so I was hoping that the book had some ideas…”

Well, Pansy had great ideas! Draco got up and walked into his room, closely followed by his best friend. There, he found the book quickly in his bedside table. He handed it over to Pansy who sat down in his favorite arm chair from home (which he had shrunken down before his father had told him to never come back).

After a quiet minute, where you could only hear the pages being turned and Draco turning onto his back on the bed, Pansy finally seemed to have found it. She cheered and got up, showing Draco the list open in the book.

> **Chores for Children**
> 
> Chores are very important for children. It’s not supposed to be a punishment helping the parents. Through chores, our children can feel needed It gives them a feeling of importance. If they don’t help setting the table, who will? In addition, they learn responsibility and independence. Family chores also teach the children to work together. They create work ethic in our children and develop their characters.
> 
> Through a well placed chore, they learn that through help, you can get something done quicker and have more time to play.
> 
> Before you show your child how a chore is done correctly, you need to understand that a child doesn’t know yet how to do it correctly. They will watch and learn: the best option would be to talk (and show) them through their daily tasks.
> 
> Here are daily tasks a child should be able to do:
> 
>   * Get dressed and brush teeth without being asked.
>   * Make bed
>   * Clean up after eating
>   * put dirty clothes in the hamper and stow clean clothes away.
> 

> 
> These daily tasks shouldn’t be considered chores, but a daily routine. Chores should be additional actions, such as collecting the trash, organizing books on book shelves, clean up the playroom, pick up things on the floor, organize games and puzzles, and water the plants. Whatever you think matches your child’s ability and helps them grow.

“I don’t know, Pans. Some of the things sound too much like the household where Harry grew up. I don’t want him to fall into something like that…” Draco scratched his forehead and sighed.

Pansy nodded. “I know what you mean. But we could also just start with the daily list. Get dressed, brush teeth, make bed and clean up after himself… that should be easy enough, right?”

Draco snorted. “Easy? Have you met Harry?”

Chuckling, Pansy shrugged her shoulders. “I know, darling. But I think we should start small. So, maybe tell him to make his bed every morning. Then, we’ll go bigger, clean up the Common Room – with our help of course – and then… I don’t know.”

“Actually, I like your idea!” Draco interrupted her thoughtfully. “We can definitely do that and see where we go from there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you AcadianProud for keeping to tell me what I could write into the story (I'm not a parent, so all the help is welcomed).  
> Since people seem to enjoy Pansy the most, I hope you're okay that I gave the idea to her, I think it matches her personality in this story the most :)


	31. Chapter 31

There was a big old piano in the Common Room. It was rarely looked at and even more rarely played. The house elves kept it in check though, so if you accidentally stumbled upon it, you could start playing without any problem. It was rumoured to have belonged to Salazar Slytherin himself. And there was another rumour that if you’d play a certain set of keys and a specific melody, they greatest wizards and witches of all time would appear in front of you and you could ask them any things for ten minutes. It was just a rumour. But then again, it was just an old piano and it stood there since the beginning of time, nobody knew where it came from and who brought it exactly.

Draco never believed it. He never believed any of the rumours. Most of them were made up for ghost stories at midnight or to scare first years in their first week in Slytherin. Nothing serious.

Rumours were just made for anxious people to scare them even more. He knew that the Dark Lord used this tactic more than once and it had always worked in his favour. So... Rumours were nothing more than that: empty words believed by people without proper ideas.

Well, Draco liked to sit down there in the middle of the night, when everyone went to bed, put up a soundproof bubble-charm and play a little bit of jazz. His father had always told him that there was no feeling supposed to be in music. The people writing the music already put emotion into the pieces, he didn’t have to overdo it. So he had always hated the classical writers.

Johannes Brahms and Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote huge and complicated pieces and there were even some magical composers, which you only knew from one or two special songs. Well, even if Draco could play their songs blindly (which he could), he hated them with all of his heart. It reminded him of his youth, when his father sat there, a long cane in his hands and if there was any note even slightly different from what was on the page... His fingers still hurt when he thought of it.

It was another vaguely stormy night. The end of January brought weird nights, slightly snowy, slightly rainy and always cold. Tonight, Draco couldn’t sleep and he got up and threw a cautious glance over to the smaller bed, where Harry was peacefully asleep. Smiling slightly, he pushed some magical barrier up that would alert him should anything happen to Harry or should he be looking for him, when he got out of bed.

Harry had just had his seventh birthday and Draco needed to take him to Madam Pomfrey in the morning. He had also planned a meeting with McGonagall to ask her whether or not he could bring his ward to one or two lessons that were harmless for children. Also, he was now an actual child, no toddler. And Pansy and Blaise had done wonders to him: he was reading big books by himself.

The last morning, Draco had found him with a pile of _The Chronicles of Narnia_ and he had already finished the first book. The next hour was spent listening to Harry about the book and how he wanted to see a winged horse in his life.

Draco had to hold back a grin. Thestrals were winged horses, right? Well, their history wasn’t really what would make you want to see them. Loosing family and friends just so you’re able to see horses?

Sighing, Draco closed the door quietly, after checking his magical ward. Sometimes magic was weird. Well, he was not going to think about something that depressing right now. He already was awake, thinking these depressing thoughts was just going to keep him up longer.

He wandered through the silent Common Room and sat down on the piano, before putting up a silencing charm. He lifted the black fallboard and placed his fingers onto the white keys. He played the first few notes and smiled softly to himself; it was perfect.

The sound coming alive under his fingertips and travelling through the strings into the wooden instrument body had always amazed Draco. Just a touch and the whole piano was humming with joy. A smile played on his face, as he closed his eyes, letting his fingers dance on the black and white keys. There was a rather quick base while the higher notes jumped around with an air of ignorance and happiness.

Every note was intertwined into a rather complex and upbeat jazz piece, his free foot moving to the sound and before long, his whole body was somehow dancing to the melody-free song that he basically created on the spot.

This was what music was supposed to be. Pure feelings! He quickly moved his fingers over the keys, touching them as little as possible, flying over the pieces, while the base held everything together with a deep, beautiful rhythm.

In his free time between the end of the war and Hogwarts starting, you could have found Draco in all the jazz clubs, looking at the pianist who was somehow the leader of the band and the most important player. He had always believed that one day... one day, he would be part of their world and...

“Dray?”

Jumping from surprise, Draco faced to where the voice had come from. Harry stood there, frowning slightly at him. He was still wearing his pyjamas and his favourite teddy was in his arms.

“Harry! Did something happen? I’m sorry, my magic must have stopped working... Is everything okay?” Draco asked, honestly scared that Harry had hurt himself or something.

His ward shook his head. “I had a nightmare just now. I wanted to find you.”

Draco’s heart was indecisive. On the one hand he was very sad that Harry had another nightmare and he wished he knew how to stop them, but on the other hand... he came to find him! He trusted him so much that he walked out of the safety of his bed to be with him.

“Well, you found me, bear. How can I help you?”

Harry walked closer and sat down next to him. “Can you teach me how to play like you do? It’s amazing!”

Draco smiled down at his ward. “You want to learn how to play the piano? Why?”

“You are awesome! I want to be able to play like you can!”

Now, Draco had to laugh softly and he ruffled through Harry’s hair. By now it was luckily not rainbow coloured anymore. Even though Draco really wanted him to keep the colours, he understood that maybe in the long haul, it was better to have the normal hair colour again. Pansy had her black beauty again and he kept his blond hair. However, Harry gave him one strain of blue hair, hidden under a few blond strains. And he loved this secret that he shared with his ward.

“Thank you, bear. And of course I can show you how to play!”

Harry beamed at him. “Is this something a pureblood should be able to do?”

“Not really. Well” Draco frowned. “Purebloods have to play instruments, so most choose piano, since almost every family has one in their house and you can use this skill in parties. But violins and guitars or the flute is just as adored.”

“The flute? But that’s boring!"

Draco smirked ans shrugged his shoulders. “Don't let Blaise hear that! He learnt the flute. Mil can play piano as well, Theo went towards the guitar but he claims he's forgotten everything and well, Pansy learnt violin.”

“But you played so cool!” Harry raved and his eyes were sparkling.

Draco chuckled. “Alright, bear. I’ll show you how to play, right now.” 

They spent about an hour playing the piano, Draco teaching as much as he could. Well, he taught as much as he believed was necessary for little Harry to be happy with his lesson. He did teach him a few smaller tricks and after some time, he told him to continue a certain melody and he played different bases and middle melodies, which made Harry incredibly happy to be part of something.

And well, it all ended with Harry yawning for the fifth time in one minute and Draco picking up his almost asleep ward and bringing him back to their room, where he placed him in his bed. He then climbed into his own and yawned before falling asleep himself. He hadn’t slept this well for a long time and he was sure it had something to do with good music before bed.


	32. Chapter 32

The next day, Draco was woken up by Pansy who held something in her hands. “Draco! Wake up, you sleepyhead! Open your damn eyes and feast them upon the creation of another human being’s sentences!”

Draco quickly and half asleep cast the tempus charm to see that it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet. “Pans, go back to your room and sleep!” he muttered and turned his back to his best friend. He should have known that this would never work on Pansy. She grinned at him and shook her head, pulling him back to his original state.

“I got a letter!”

Growling, Draco pulled the blanket over his head. “For Merlin’s sake, Pans, it’s not even seven! You’re torturing me here!”

The blanket was pulled away and Pansy raised her eyebrows at him. Draco sighed defeated and yawned, before he sat up, rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes. “Yes, Pansy, why is that letter so important?” he deadpanned.

His best friend since childhood grinned. “Do you remember how I told you about this professor for Memory Recovery things?” Draco nodded silently, which made her continue. “Well, I got a letter back, once I said that I wasn’t kidding and that it was important.”

“And what did he write, Pans?”

Pansy grinned. “ _She_ wrote that we could go and see her in a month. The problem’s that she has a lot to do and there’s something happening where she needs to hold about three speeches. I didn’t get everything... But the thing is: We can visit her, bring Harry with us and she’s going to look at him and whether or not it would be helpful and even possible to give him all his former memories.”

Draco was floored. Something like that was possible? Maybe like that Harry wouldn’t immediately start to hate him when he turned eleven...

Well, Pansy seemed to interpret his silence a little differently, as she seemed rather embarrassed and shrugged her shoulders. “Of course, Draco, if you’d rather have it another way, I can tell her that we’re not...”

“No! No, Pansy! This is amazing! You are an awesome friend! We should definitely do this!”

Pansy grinned and nodded. “I’ll return her letter then. A Saturday would work for you, right?”

“Perfect, Pans, thank you!”

“You’re welcome darling, now go back to bed, you look positively sleep deprived.” She winked at him.

Draco chuckled. “Guess who’s the reason of that.” He smirked as Pansy shrugged her shoulders pretending not to realize that she was the person waking him up.

“Probably Harry.”

Rolling his eyes, Draco fell back into his bed and pulled his blanket up again, while Pansy left the room and silently closed the door again. Within a few minutes, everything was calm again and Draco fell into slumber one more time.

The next time, Draco got woken up was by Harry who sat down on his bed happily playing with his favourite toy. Well, Draco yawned and opened his eyes to find his ward with crossed legs on his bed and pretending that his teddy bear was walking through a scary forest. Well, at least Harry had learnt that he didn’t need to wake up and make breakfast for them.

“Morning, bear” Draco yawned again, though was interrupted by a teddy bear landing in his face.

“Hello, Draco! How are you?” Harry said in a higher voice, most likely pretending to be the teddy bear.

Groaning, Draco pushed the teddy out of his face and looked at a grinning Harry. “Having fun, bear?”

His ward nodded, still grinning. Draco chuckled and pushed the blanket away, before sitting up himself. “Well, did you make your bed?”

“Yes!” Harry nodded overly enthusiastically and grinned at Draco.

Draco smirked and winked at him. “Well done! Hey, didn’t I teach you not to wake me up, little bear?” he asked and grabbed his ward, tickling him.

Harry laughed loudly, threw his teddy at Draco, who didn’t stop tickling. It was beautiful to see a small Harry so happy, and laughing. It made Draco feel incredibly happy and he hoped that maybe his ward would continue to be happy once he had all his memories back.

For some reason – none other than Draco purposefully letting go a little – Harry had managed to get away and he ran through the room, still laughing. Draco smirked and got up himself. “You can’t run away from me, Harry!”

“Watch me!” his ward called and ran in circles around Draco, who after two rounds finally managed to snatch his ward up. He threw him over his shoulder, playing drums on Harry’s arse, while he laughed and struggled to get free.

After about a minute, of Draco jumping around the room, a struggling (and laughing) Harry on his shoulders, the door opened and Pansy stood there. She had raised eyebrows, though her facial expression of annoyance changed rather quickly into an unwilling smirk and then soft laughter as she saw what happened.

“Pansy, help me!” Harry called out and laughed as Draco tickled him again.

Draco looked over to his best friend and saw her laughing while she walked in. “Don’t worry, darling, I’ll be here!” she said to Harry, before looking up at Draco. “We’re going to breakfast, come one, Dray. You can keep torturing your boy once we’re back.”

“No!” Harry called out, when Draco laughed and agreed and let him down from his shoulders. He was actually glad, since the seven year old Harry had gotten a little heavier than the six year old. Well, Draco was also very happy, since that meant he was gaining weight and Merlin knows he needed it!

He ruffled Harry’s hair and grinned at him. “Don’t worry, bear, I’ll catch you wherever you are!”

“Nope, you don’t!” Harry shook his head and ran towards Pansy, hugging her.

She chuckled and put her arms around him. “We’ll wait in the Common Room, Dray. Get some clothes on in which you’re presentable.” She winked and pulled Draco’s ward out with her.

Shaking his head, Draco quickly disregarded his clothes, took a quick shower and was read to attack the world in less than fifteen minutes – even if most of that time was spent to take care of his bed head. Once he was out of his room, he heard laughter which he could match to each of his friends rather fast.

And yes, once he walked into the Common Room, he found them running around the tables, chairs and bookcases. Harry was apparently playing tag and everyone seemed to try and get him. He was definitely showing that he had something of a seeker in him. He avoided each and everyone with elegance, gliding under a table, cutting corners out of someone’s eye and just ‘disappearing’ for a few seconds.

Right now, Blaise was almost about to grab Harry, when he jumped behind an armchair, flung around the furniture and landed on his feet in a ninety degree angle, before running away and leaving Blaise confused for two seconds. Now, however, Harry ran directly into Theodore’s arms. The Slytherin had snuck out of a corner and caught the little lion rather quickly.

The whole Common Room – a few snakes were still staying there, waiting for their friends – were laughing along with Draco’s friends and he couldn’t stop himself from chuckling. Harry noticed him quickly and grinned, running at him and hugging him.

“Well, that’s the morning workout finished, huh bear?” Draco asked and smirked. Harry shrugged his shoulders and they all made their way up to the Great Hall to get some breakfast.

It was still weird for Draco, as they had usually taken their breakfast in the kitchen or the Common Room. Too many curious eyes were on them when they had entered the Great Hall. People were looking at Harry, trying to make him remember them or asking him stupid things about his future, which he didn’t know yet. Only two days ago a stupid Ravenclaw had asked him what he would do if he’d ever get the chance to be in the Triwizard Tournament. He could have strangled that idiot. Luckily, Pansy had moved him along and Blaise and Theodore had dealt with this bonehead.

And today as well, they sat at the long tables, Harry between Draco and Blaise and on the opposite side of Pansy, Millicent and Theodore. There was some disturbance, when a fifth year Hufflepuff (who wasn’t really behaving like a typical Hufflepuff) stood right behind the two Slytherins and looking at Harry.

“Why do you keep hiding him away, Malfoy? He’s our _Saviour_ , we should be able to see him whenever we want to!” His eyes were basically glowing with anger, though Draco was sure that he was equally as angry. Especially seeing that Harry was wide-eyed and scared.

However, before Draco could say something, the Hufflepuff jumped, a short outcry of pain and turned around. There stood a Gryffindor – Ginny Weasley with a wand extended pointing it at the Hufflepuff boy.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that” she said in a not really apologetically voice. “You’re Joseph Cambell, right?” The Hufflepuff nodded half-heartedly. “Thank you, Cambell, that’ll be fifty points from Hufflepuff.”

The boy widened his eyes and he shook his head. “You can’t do that! Only Prefects and Head boys and girls can take points! And he’s torturing Harry Potter!” Cambell pointed an accusatory finger at Draco.

And once again, Ginny was faster than Draco could be. “Lucky... or rather unlucky for you, I am a Prefect!” She showed her badge and rolled her eyes. “And I know for a fact that Draco’s not torturing Harry Potter, so _shut up_. Now leave, before I take any more points from Hufflepuff. And stop making scenes in the Great Hall, mate! You’re just going to embarrass yourself.”

Cambell walked away, shoulders hanging and Ginny rolled her eyes, before she sat down next to Pansy who sat there with a mouth wide open.

“Hey, guys” she smiled at them nonchalantly and then at Harry who grinned back at her, while he continued eating a piece of Toast happily again. “Did you hear that the DADA professor left? He went back to America – said there’s much less depression in the air.”

“Again?” Theodore asked and rolled his eyes. “I don’t think there’s going to be a good DADA professor in our years here. We just have to live with that fact.”

The Gryffindor chuckled. “Well, despite the fact that we have been continuously taught by the worst possible teachers... we did survive a war, so there’s that.”

Blaise stopped eating and eyed Ginny suspiciously. Draco frowned. _Wait_ , when had he stopped calling her Weaslette? Surprisingly, he realised that it felt almost normal, calling her by her given name...

“Thank you.” Millicent nodded at the Gryffindor. “Thank you for saying it that way. You could have said a lot of things that would make it sound as if you’re looking down on us. But... you are right: we all survived.”

Ginny nodded. “I know, Bulstrode. There are no winners in a war, just survivors.”

Everyone who heard the Gryffindor turned to look at her, clearly surprised and she only shrugged and wished them a nice afternoon, heading back to the Ravenclaw table and taking a seat next to Luna.

Before she could do that, Theodore thanked her for looking after them and Harry and actually defending them in front of basically everybody.

Pansy shook her head and grabbed a new and improved vial of the nutrition potion, handing it over to Harry. “Who knew that Gryffindors were that deep?”

“I never thought of it that way...” Draco frowned, looking at Harry. He wondered what he went through in this year on the run.

No winners. Just survivors. He had survived a lot: The Injury Parchment was proof of that. But what did he experience while he was being hunted? This boy was such a strong fighter! Ever since he had seen the light of the world: parents killed when he wasn’t even two years old, abused by his relatives, fought throughout all the hardships happening at Hogwarts and ended up winning... _surviving_ a war.

If that wasn’t an accomplishment, then... Well no. Winning something was an accomplishment. Surviving was... a talent. If nothing else.


	33. Chapter 33

After breakfast, Draco made his way up to McGonagall’s office with Harry. He had wanted to see whether or not he could catch her after breakfast, when she made her way up, but he had been too slow and she had already disappeared when he remembered to look for her.

Ginny’s saying had messed with his head. Nobody who had fought the war had won. The good side had lost a lot of good people: One of the explosions had also almost killed one of the twins and had left him in a coma for half a year. The bad side... his side. They had lost so much, though most of all: honour. As if they’d had any to begin with. Draco snorted and shook his head.

“What are you thinking, Dray?” a voice brought him out of his dark place.

He turned and looked at his ward who had a concerned expression on his face, when they climbed another set of stairs.

“Don’t worry, bear. It’s just something I need to figure out.”

Harry stopped and looked at him wide eyes. “You don’t want to be around me anymore?”

“What?!” Draco stopped as well and immediately shook his head. “Why would you think that, bear? If I could I would adopt you, you’re the sweetest boy I know!”

As if to prove his point, Draco tilted his head and frowned. “And why don’t you adopt me?”

Smiling softly, Draco sat down on the stairs and looked at his ward. “Well, for starters, I’m not sure if you’ve figured it out, but you’re aging rather fast and in a few weeks you will be an adult. And being your magical guardian already is something like having adopted you.”

“Hmm” Harry said narrowing his eyes. Draco could tell there was a lot of stuff going on in his head. “So, I already am your son?”

“In a way” Draco answered carefully. Though, Harry didn’t catch that as he squealed and fell around Draco’s neck. “Whoa, hey bear, why is this so important to you?”

His ward shrugged his shoulders, smiling broadly. “You’re important to me! I like you!”

Draco chuckled. “I like you too, my little laughing bear.” He then motioned his ward to walk the rest of the stairs up to McGonagall’s office. How she did this for every meal was beyond his understanding.

Before Draco could say the password for the entrance, the stairs appeared and someone was walking down. That someone turned out to be a very familiar face.

“Remus. Um... Hello. I did not expect to find you here.”

The werewolf smiled at him and nodded. “Nice to see you too, Draco.” His eyes darted over Draco’s ward who was half hiding behind Draco and looked a little surprised at his former professor. “Oh, hello there Harry.”

“Hi” Harry said softly and hid behind Draco’s back again.

“I’m sorry I haven’t answered your last letter yet, Draco” Remus smiled apologetically. “I’ve been travelling around the country meeting experts and... I’ve been busy.”

Draco nodded understandingly. “I hope it’s a good busy.”

“The best. They finally found a way remove the transformation entirely. They’re doing a few test runs, but the medicine could be ready in a year” Remus explained and while he said it his eyes were full of joy and Draco could even see a glint of hope.

“That is amazing! So, you won’t be a werewolf for long?”

Remus sighed. “I will always be a werewolf, but with this new medicine, it won’t be obvious. I will just have my bad two days around full moon, everything else will be gone – no wolf, no danger, no panic.”

Draco nodded. That was amazing news! “And how come you’re here? Is McGonagall somehow part in this experimentation?”

Shaking his head, Remus chuckled. “Oh no, she has a lot of other things on her plate. No, I came by to ask whether or not I could have my post as DADA professor back, once I’ve had the medicine. Minerva actually agreed! You know, they’re opening a new course for Muggleborn students called Wizarding Society next year. Nymphadora got the job and well, I thought it would be nice to live here with her. I believe Teddy would like it here as well.”

“Congratulations!” Draco smiled. Yes, there was one good DADA professor. How could he forget about Remus! They had learnt so much in their third year! “So, are you going to teach the others, while we finish our N.E.W.T.s?”

Remus smiled apologetically. “No, there are still a lot of parents who do not trust that Hogwarts has things under control. And they’ve already complained about me once. I’m not going through that again.”

Draco blushed slightly. “Yes. I’m really sorry, I feel as if I was part of the origin of why you were fired.”

Chuckling, his former professor shook his head. “Don’t you worry, Draco. I think it needed to happen that way. It made it official that I’m a werewolf and through that I could join the werewolves and be a secret agent for Dumbledore. There’s a point to everything.”

“I believe that once something _good_ happens” Draco rolled his eyes, but smiled a second later. “Thank you, Remus. If Pansy or Theodore have a question about DADA, could I tell them to write you? I think it would help them prepare.”

Remus smiled and agreed. He then waved and rushed by, clearly needing to get home and tell his wife what had happened. “See you around, Draco! You’ll get a letter tomorrow!” he called from the stairs.

“Don’t worry about that letter!” Draco called back and chuckled as he looked for Harry and walked up the stairs with him.

On the top of the stair, Draco knocked and before he knew it, Harry knocked as well when the door opened. Draco bit his lips, trying not to face the Headmistress with laughter, when he entered the room. Harry beamed at him and he motioned him to follow him into the room.

“Malfoy” McGonagall said as she looked over her glassed at him. “And Potter. Welcome, take a seat.” She pointed at the chairs in the corner next to a small table.

Harry hoped onto a chair and grinned happily, when McGonagall conjured a Patronus and the three cats started playing around Harry and let him pet them. Draco had never thought of that: he needed to do something like that as well: He really seemed to love Patronusses.

“So, what can I do for you?” McGonagall asked and took a seat as well.

Draco smiled politely and nodded. “Well, I’ve been thinking: Harry is rather skilled wizard and I think it would be helpful for him to concentrate his magic with...”

McGonagall interrupted him, before he could say what he wanted to. “Mr. Malfoy.” Draco swore on the inside. It was never a good sign, when McGonagall called you with a ‘Mister’ at the start. “Do you know why Hogwarts starts when the children are eleven?”

Frowning slightly, Draco shook his head. It had always been done like that, so he had never questioned it.

“Well, children before the age of eleven are unable to use their magic in an orderly fashion. There are accidental magical phenomena happening, but nothing else. Only once they’ve passed their eleventh birthday, they can start to grasp the concept of magic and its power” McGonagall explained.

All the while, Draco had been frowning. Yes, it made sense, but... it didn’t sound like Harry. He had his magic in check rather well.

“What if” he started carefully, “What if Harry could control his magic to the extent that he can... let’s say colour my hair blue and then remove it?”

The Headmistress chuckled. “I heard a rumour” she said. “However, that would still be called accidental magic. Removing something done by this sort of magic, doesn’t make it – and I’m sorry to say it like that – special.”

At this time, Draco got surprising backup from Harry himself who looked at McGonagall frowning. “But I didn’t take away everything” he said and crossed his arms.

McGonagall frowned and looked at Harry. “I beg your pardon?”

“I left some, because I think Draco likes it” Harry said and smiled proudly.

“I did not say that” Draco tried to defend himself with a red face and raised hands. “Well...” he licked his lips, realizing that Harry looked slightly confused. Why was he so embarrassed to say that he actually like that colour? “I... I might have mentioned that I... I liked the colour...”

He pushed a few hair strains to the side and showed the Headmistress his bluish strain of hair. McGonagall frowned for a few seconds, before she smiled. “Well in that case, I do believe that maybe Charms would interest Potter?” she looked at him questioningly and Draco’s ward nodded with wide eyes.

Before they could leave, McGonagall called Draco back. She walked to a desk and pulled out an old looking wand. “This belongs to Potter, it may help him focus his magic in class.”

Draco nodded, clearly noting the untold rule McGonagall was giving him. Harry was allowed his wand in class, but after it he needed to take his wand back. His ward was a rather skilled wizard and who knew what he could do with focussed magic...

As they left, Harry grinned and turned to Draco. “Do you think I can change her hair too? Maybe if I concentrate really hard?”

Smiling softly, Draco ruffled through his ward’s hair and pulled him into an empty classroom. It was Saturday, so there were only unused classrooms. In the corner, there were two ghosts playing chess. They didn’t look up and Draco didn’t think that they had heard them enter or even realized anything else except their game of chess.

“Hey, bear, there’s something very important you need to understand” Draco said and sat down at a desk. Harry frowned and sat down next to him, looking at him with wide eyes. “You can’t just go around and do what you want with your magic.”

“I can’t?”

Shaking his head softly, Draco confirmed it. “Well, having magic is a gift, you know, bear? And if we want to try and do something to another person, we need to ask them.”

Harry tilted his head again, frowning slightly. “Because they don’t like it?”

“Maybe” Draco answered.

“Did you not like the blue hair?” Harry asked after a little silence.

Smiling, Draco shook his head. “I loved it, bear! Don’t worry, you don’t have to ask me. And I don’t think Pans, Theo, Ze or Mil have anything against your magic. But you do have to ask strangers, okay?”

Nodding, Harry grinned. “Okay!”

Draco hugged his ward and they walked out again like ghosts. Well, since the ghosts in the corner had not realized anything. When Draco led his ward to the Hospital Wing, he grinned a little. “You liked the Patronus cats?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “They were soft. And fluffy!”


	34. Chapter 34

Every time Draco entered the Hospital Wing, his heart would drop. He did not want to find out any more dark details of Harry’s life. He was changing it for the better – at least he hoped so – then why did he need to continuously see all the fucked up things in his former life?!

“Mr. Malfoy” he was greeted by Madam Pomfrey rushing towards him. “Just in time” she smiled.

Draco should have felt comfortable in her presence, but today it was... not really helpful. He smiled mechanically as to not upset his ward and sat down on the chair he had sat so much in. At least once a week for the past two months.

“Well, then” the mediwitch said once Harry had sat down on the bed. She seemed uncharacteristically cheery. Maybe she was worried as well. Or something else had happened, Draco couldn’t really pinpoint it. “Let’s see how you’re doing.”

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
>   2. **17 months old** : Officially adopted by the Dursley family
>   3. **22 months old** : Fell down the stairs – being pushed by his cousin, some bruises on legs and arms
>   4. **2 years, 1 month old** : Official bedroom – Cupboard under the stairs
>   5. **2 years, 3 months old** : Jammed right arm between cupboard door and wall while being pushed out of the way – clean break, no healer visit
>   6. **2 years, 8 months old** : No food for two weeks
>   7. **2 years, 11 months old** : blamed for mess that wasn’t his – imprisoned in his cupboard for 10 days
>   8. **3 years, 1 month old** : sprained left wrist – cousin attached a rope to it and pulled him around the house and garden for a day
>   9. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of accidental magic – put out a kitchen fire his cousin started – no food for 7 days as punishment
>   10. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of malnourishment
>   11. **3 years, 5 months old** : housework – do parts of the dusting
>   12. **3 years, 6 months old** : got knocked out by a ball, thrown by his cousin – mild concussion, no healer visit
>   13. **3 years, 10 months old** : housework – weed the garden
>   14. **3 years, 11 months old** : Pneumonia – no healer visits
>   15. **4 years, 3 months old** : No food for 9 days
>   16. **4 years, 4 months old** : imprisoned in cupboard for 16 days
>   17. **4 years, 7 months old** : sprained right ankle – no healer visit, healed correctly
>   18. **4 years, 8 months old** : housework – mop the floors
>   19. **4 years, 11 months old** : accidental magic – cleaned kitchen – no food for 9 days s punishment
>   20. **5 years, 3 months old** : housework: make all the food
>   21. **5 years, 5 months old** : caught stealing crumbs from plates – no food for 6 days as punishment
>   22. **5 years, 7 months old** : Skiing holiday (no training), broke left leg – healer visit, healed correctly
>   23. **5 years , 8 months old** : No food for ten days
>   24. **5 years, 9 months old** : Sleep deprivation – nightly work for Party
>   25. **5 years, 11 months old** : broken left leg by Aunt Marge for not letting his cousin win – no healer visit
>   26. **6 years, 1 month old** : beaten by his uncle, scars on his back, infected through no healer visit
>   27. **6 years, 3 months old** : housework: clean all the windows
>   28. **6 years, 4 months old** : accused of breaking two expensive vases, imprisoned in cupboard for 3 weeks, only let out for housework
>   29. **6 years, 6 months old** : sent to school; excuse for being late – having moved from his family to his aunt and uncle, illiterate
>   30. **6 years, 8 months old** : potential friends being pushed away by his cousin, pushed into a rose bush by cousin
>   31. **6 years, 9 months old** : accidental magic – while being hunted, apparated onto the roof of his school
>   32. **7 years old** : had nightmares and tried to get out of cupboard, punishment: beaten by belt and thrown back into cupboard
>   33. **7 years, 2 months old** : Flowers and plants died in hot summer, being blamed for it, punched by aunt 
>   34. **7 years, 3 months old** : school assignment destroyed by aunt for having needed to look into his family history – double housework as punishment
>   35. **7 years, 5 months old** : school sends Social Worker home, aunt and uncle manage to make her think he’s a problem child
>   36. **7 years, 8 months old** : aunt called school to cancel his field trip, no food for fifteen days as punishment
> 


“Punishment for what?!” Draco glared at the parchment and was about to tear it to pieces. There were so many stupid things in there! The school actually believed that there was something happening with Harry’s relatives, but they managed to outthink them?! How was that possible! His fucking bedroom was a _cupboard_! A cupboard under the fucking stairs!

And then, there was that last point, by far not the worst one on it, but... why would they punish Harry for something he had no power over?! A field trip was planned by the school; the aunt and uncle couldn’t just pretend that it was something that was in Harry’s hands.

“Am I being punished?” Harry asked, eyes wide open and he held his teddy bear tight to his chest. He was really scared and Draco hated himself for talking loudly.

Quickly, he shook his head and handed the parchment back to Madam Pomfrey. “No bear! You are not being punished. I couldn’t do something like that! You want to know why?”

Harry nodded slightly, still somewhat unsure. Draco ruffled through the raven hair and smiled at his ward. “Because you are nothing but a good boy! I can’t punish you for being amazing and doing all the right things!”

“But you said something about a punishment...”

Draco felt his heart tighten as he watched his ward’s scared eyes glance at him. “No, bear, no!” he felt himself about to tear up and swallowed heavily. “Don’t worry, Harry. I promise I’m not going to punish you! You did nothing wrong.”

Well, Harry definitely didn’t do anything wrong. But he did... he did everything wrong! How could he make his ward feel so scared! Just because he was confused about what was written on this damn parchment?!

Madam Pomfrey walked over and told them that they were free to leave, since Harry’s stats were okay and they only needed a little adjustment in the nutrition potions. So, they headed back down to the dungeons again.

It was so hard for Draco to keep up the cheery emotion as they went to Severus’ office. Knocking, Severus opened rather quickly and Harry was happy, playing with the children potion’s kit in the corner. After Draco handed over the letter from Madam Pomfrey, he just wanted to leave again, when his godfather held him back, frowning.

“Talk to me, Draco.”

“It’s nothing, really. It’ll go away in a few hours” Draco answered and hoped his emotionless pureblood mask was enough to fool his godfather. Well, he should have known that this man knew him better than his own parents knew him.

Severus raised his eyebrows and motioned Draco to sit down at the round table. It was filled to the brink with paperwork – most likely essays. However, Draco complied and sat down, pressing his lips into a thin line. He could sit here, but he wouldn’t be talking.

His godfather brought over some tea and sat down himself. “You don’t have to talk, Draco. But I believe you might need a little comfort. And if having a cup of tea with your old godfather helps, so be it.”

Draco tried really hard to suppress rolling his eyes and grabbed his tea instead. “Thank you, Severus” he said, a little too annoyed, before he took a sip of his tea. It tasked weird somehow and he looked down into the cup. However, Severus wasn’t reacting and he also hadn’t said what kind of tea it was, so maybe...

“So, Draco, what’s been bothering you?” Severus repeated.

The only thing Draco could do was roll his eyes. This time he couldn’t even suppress it. “Nice try, Severus. You really don’t have to worry about me. It’s not as if being in the last year of Hogwarts, trying my hardest to keep all of my grades up to perfection, and having to take care of a child, who’s actually my childhood nemesis, is something out of the ordinary” he deadpanned.

Taking another sip of the tea, he suddenly stopped in the middle of his action, though not before swallowing. What was that?! Why did he just say something like that? How was he being so out of his mind?

Severus only nodded thoughtfully. For a while, everything was quiet, before his godfather leaned over the table. “And how are you doing with Harry?”

“I don’t think I’m the right person for him. Maybe I should give him to his friends. They... they might work better with him. Also, he might start to remember me and we hated each other in school.” Draco stopped and widened his eyes. “Oh you brainless hoodwink! You gave me Veritaserum! Why would you do that!?”

Severus smiled smugly and leaned back in his chair, taking another sip of his quite clearly _not_ spiked tea and quite clearly not taking Draco’s words seriously. ”I believe you need to talk about your feelings, Draco. And we both know that you never do. You’ve been trained to ignore them as long as possible. That’s not healthy.”

“So you gave me Veritaserum?!”

“Exactly. So talking about giving him to his friends, I don’t think that’s going to work out in his favour.”

Draco shook his head, unable to believe that his own godfather would use such a potion against him. He couldn’t contain what he was about to say, so he just glared at Severus, while he started to speak again. “It’s the best thing I got so far. He hates me probably and...”

He was interrupted by Severus snorting. “Draco, stop talking nonsense. Do you want to know something? That day Harry turned into a baby, Minerva did all the tests possible – and I say _all of them_. She couldn’t believe that he would choose _you_ to raise him over his friends.”

Frowning, Draco remembered the letter Remus had written him about the Magical Guardian’s Test. “No, Remus told me about the Guardian test! It just looks at the people in close radius and takes them into account. I think the Gryffindor Tower was just too high to be included in...”

“I said she took every possible test” Severus emphasized. He took another sip from his tea and leaned back in his chair. “She only showed you the Magical Guardian Test, since this one is the easiest to understand. There are others that are not as loose and involve a lot of thinking to be understood and... never mind. No matter which test Minerva performed, you were Harry’s Guardian.”

Draco wanted to get up and leave, but the damn Veritaserum kept him there – talking. Talking about things he would have never said out loud. “But I’m the worst person possible! I’ve scared Harry into thinking that he’s getting punished for nothing! I want to kill his relatives every time I read that fucked up parchment and I can’t even... I’m so dead inside, Severus! Caring for him makes me realize how much of an idiot I’ve been! I hate it all!”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what people call parenthood.” Now Severus actually had the nerve to smirk and he chuckled, as if it was funny to him! “I mean, I don’t have any children, but I have been visited frequently by your mother. Interestingly, she came to me almost with the same problems. Thinking, she wasn’t worth being a mother, having made too many mistakes for her son to actually like her...”

“I like my mother! It’s just... difficult right now.” Draco shook his head and cleared his throat. “Look, we’re not talking about that right now! I’m going to give him to his friends now.”

Holding his hands into the air, Severus actually made him stop talking. At least until the Veritaserum-tug would come back. “Draco, stop. Think about what you’re about to do. He’s lived with you Slytherins since he can remember and now you go ahead and give him to some strangers?”

For the second time this day, Draco felt himself tear up. No, this time there were actually tears running down his cheeks and he brushed them out of his face with his open palm. “I just can’t deal with it anymore! I’m a terrible human being, ninety percent of everyone I know hates me, people think I’ve kidnapped Harry and I... it’s just too much for me! I’d rather go back to my normal stupid life where nothing was important to me.”

“You’re lying to yourself, Draco.”

“Well, I believe my lies, so until I’m out of Hogwarts, it’s all fine.” Draco was so in his argument with his godfather, that he hadn’t realised Harry was standing right next to him.

That was, until the seven year old Harry put his hand on Draco’s arm and smiled at him wisely. He luckily hadn’t heard the whole conversation, just the last few sentences. “It doesn’t matter what people think of you, Dray. It’s important that you like yourself.”

Draco sniffed and brushed more tears out of his face. Fucking Veritaserum! “That’s the point, Harry. I don’t like myself. I made so many mistakes that I can’t forgive me.”

“That’s okay, you just need to find someone who likes you the way you are. And I like you! You are awesome and you protect me, remember?” Harry smiled, pointing at Draco’s hair. Subconsciously, Draco touched his hair, still having a few tears in his eyes. His little ward continued: “Everyone makes mistakes! Pansy said that. It’s important that you learn from them, if you can’t correct them now at least learn from them.”

Severus chuckled and nodded. “Pansy Parkinson said that?” he asked as if he didn’t believe it to be true.

Harry nodded and turned back to Draco. He handed him a very fluffy pillow that he had clearly found in Severus office. “Sometimes you need to wait a little, until things are better. Like, if you scrape your knee. You have to wait for it to be healed before you can start to run again.”

Now, both Severus and Draco were floored by Harry’s analysis of the situation and he frowned, looking at them both before turning back to Draco. He was clearly expecting something. Draco felt the potion tugging inside him and he smiled.

“You are very wise, Harry. I think I might have to take your advice and sit down for a while, waiting for my knee to heal.” He got up and walked to the door, where he turned around. “Come on, bear, let’s go. I think Mil has a surprise party planned for you.” Draco stopped in front of the door and sighed defeated. “Stupid Veritaserum!”


	35. Chapter 35

“I want to marry you.”

“I’m a nobody. Why me?”

“You are everything to me. We’re soulmates. I've loved you ever since I first saw you.”

“Your flight to Paris leaves in twenty minutes.”

“No. It’s our flight. We’re going to Paris.”

Draco held onto the cushion he was pressing on his chest and stared at the TV wide eyed. They were so cute together! And the wind rushing through the air, blowing her hair out of the way. The final shot of them standing on the place in front of the Eifel tower, hand in hand. They looked to happy, so peaceful. And that even thought they had been fighting with each other forever.

Every time Draco watched this movie, it would melt his heart. It was _that_ beautiful. He knew all their actions, all the small movements, everything. And there was nothing that would...

“What are you doing, Dray?” a small voice asked. Even though it was so soft, it still startled Draco and he jumped, hiding the TV in the corner again.

When he turned around, there was little Harry Potter, frowning at him with a tilted head. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes I’m fine. Don’t worry. Everything’s good. What are you doing here?” Draco asked, aware of his rushed topic change.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I’m bored. Mil and Pans are working on the Charms project and Theo said he’s going to look for Hermione for some insight into Muggle culture. And I saw Ze kissing someone in the Common Room. So, I’m bored. What are you doing? Can I join?”

Draco just wanted to answer his ward’s question, when he frowned slightly. “Ze is kissing someone? That’s new.”

“I think he lost a bet” Harry grinned and sat down on Draco’s favourite slightly green coloured chair. “So, Dray, I’m asking you for the third time... What are you doing? Why don’t you want to tell me? Is it illegal, should I go away and pretend I’ve never seen you in my entire life?”

Smiling, Draco shook his head. “That would be a little obvious, don’t you think, bear?” he chuckled, as Harry shrugged his shoulders again. However, Draco decided to tell his ward. “I’m watching a Muggle romance movie. And I’m slightly scared of what people will think of me when they find out. So, I keep it a secret.”

“Can I watch it with you?” Harry asked curious.

Draco nodded. “Of course, but only if you lock the door. I’m not looking forward to Pansy charging in here.”

Harry snorted as he got up to lock the door. “Then why did you leave it open in the first place, Dray?”

“So you could come in here, if you felt like talking to me. Was that not a good idea?” he asked and pulled the TV out again while turning to glance at his ward who frowned slightly.

He didn’t say anything, simply sat down on the floor next to his Magical Guardian. However, before Draco could start the movie, Harry jumped up again to grab a soft blanket and walked back to his original place.

“What’s the movie called?” he asked while he ensconced himself against Draco, who put an arm around him, leaning at the bed frame.

Draco looked down at his ward and smirked. “The title isn’t even good. It’s called: That Day.”

Harry shook his head. “That’s a stupid name for a romantic movie!”

“I agree one hundred percent, bear. But I love this movie, so... It’s fine by me” Draco explained and grinned. “Ready to start?”

“No, I have one more question!”

Smirking, Draco motioned his ward to go ahead and ask his question. Ever since he had gotten to his eighth year (Draco assumed it, he hadn’t yet visited Madam Pomfrey, they were doing it at the end of the week, or if something were to happen to his ward), Harry had gotten a lot more cheeky and Draco loved it.

“What’s going on in this story?”

“Well, it’s about a woman who moves into a new town and she works for the other company that her future lover does. And they meet in a cafe and well... it’s about them becoming friends not realizing that they work against each other and things like that.” Draco really wasn’t good at explaining what exactly happened in this story. Even though he had seen it more than a hundred times. “Shall we watch it?”

Harry nodded and lay his head against Draco’s shoulder, knees bent and the blanket over his knees (and Draco’s as well) as he started the movie again. There was no better day than the one where he could watch his favourite movie twice in a row.

Ninety minutes later, Draco found that Harry had been following the movie closely and even changed from his position. He was now sitting crossed legged and his elbows on his knees, supporting the head he had in his hand.

After the credits rolled, Draco felt suddenly so incredibly nervous. His heart was racing, he felt himself sweating, but he couldn’t figure out why... Was he scared of what his ward might have to say about the movie? It was just some dumb romance movie! Nothing more!

Luckily, Draco didn’t have to wait long, as Harry turned to him and grinned. “I like it! But it’s very corny!”

“Yeah” Draco smirked and shrugged his shoulders, getting up. “I think that’s why I liked it.” He pushed the TV back into the corner, putting a notice-me-not charm around it, when the door shook.

Harry looked up and grinned back at Draco. “Someone tries to get inside!”

“Probably Pansy.”

“Can I scare her?” Harry asked and an almost wicked grin spread over his face.

Draco raised his eyebrows. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Because I’m bored again?” Harry asked and giggled, throwing the blanket on his bed. He got up as well and looked at Draco with a tilted head while the door continued shaking.

Sighing, Draco had to agree. Partially, because he wanted to find out how his ward would scare his best friend. “If you make your bed right now, you may scare her.”

Harry cheered, quickly made his bed and stormed over to the door, unlocked it quickly and jumped out screaming “Ahhhh!”

Pansy – who actually was the person trying to get inside – joined after a millisecond with a scream of her own until it transformed into a fit of giggles for both. Draco pushed the door open a little bit more to see them both on the floor laughing.

“Both or you have lost your minds” he commented and grinned, even though he thought it was a little tactless.

His best friend shook her head and was finally over her laughter. She sat up and wiped some tears out of face. “Oh man, I was not ready for that.” She ruffled through Harry’s hair and grinned. “I’m supposed to tell you that Severus has the new batch of nutrition potions ready. You can go and fetch them whenever.”

“Thank you Pans” Draco smirked.

Harry simply sighed. “Is there an end to the potions? I don’t think I need them anymore!”

Pansy smirked and shrugged her shoulders. “Too bad that the adults in your life are deciding that for you, darling. Once you’re an adult you can choose what you want to do with the potions, but as long as you’re living with us, you have to take them.”

Draco’s ward turned to him and had a somewhat hopeful look in his eyes. “Sorry, bear” Draco smiled and motioned towards Pansy. “What she said.”

“This is annoying. And you know what... I’m bored again!” Harry rolled his eyes.

Pansy grinned. “Want to go and check out whether or not we can find the Giant Squid in the lake?”

“Yes!” Harry’s eyes were glowing and he quickly ran into the room to get changed.

“If he falls into the lake, I’ll tell Severus about this.” Draco threatened, though Pansy winked at him, before they walked out of the Common Room, leaving Draco to go and fetch the potions from his godfather. Hopefully, there wasn’t any Veritaserum used this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you may have seen that I added the finished amount of chapters. This si what I have planned, it could vary slighty (towards more chapters), depending on whether or not I think I moved to fast, but the later chapters will have alot of things happening and for my planning it doesn't have enough fluff in there. Well, I haven't written them yet, so maybe it'll all change.  
> Anyway, we've passed the middle of the story and in my stats this story is actually the second highest in all categories. So, I want to thank you very much for your love of this story! It means a lot to me and I'm glad that you like it as well! :D


	36. Chapter 36

Draco sighed as he stared at his desk. It looked almost as bad as his godfather’s desk. It was full. Well, his godfather at least had some sort of system. He had just kept dumping parchments and books all over the desk and now it was finally time to sort out everything. They were supposed to finish an essay in Astronomy and Draco was sure as he could be that he had already done it... and dumped it onto the desk.

He fell onto his chair defeated and started sorting everything. The books, he placed into a pile on the floor and the parchments that weren’t important landed on his bed – for now. Other utensils that weren’t needed, he pushed into a box under his desk.

And well, he found his essay at the bottom and when he picked it up, there was another parchment that got his attention. He quickly cleaned up the rest – placing the books in a neat row on his desk, parchments on the right and grabbed the one that had gotten his interest.

> **The Penguin Story**
> 
> Once upon a time, there was a small penguin in Madagascar. He wasn’t very happy, because while his brothers went to school, he stayed at home. With Mama Penguin. He always helped her, but Mama Penguin made sure he had a lot of fun. One day, Ravo decided that he wanted to go to school as well and he packed his little bag with two pieces of Chocolate, a piece of strawberry cake named Ian and his favorite teddy bear called Herbert.

Oh yes! He had almost forgotten about that story Harry and he had started. And why in Merlin’s name was the cake named Ian!? Draco chuckled and shook his head. Harry had just too much imagination... but it was just too cute.

Did he maybe want to finish writing it? Or was he now too old for something like that? Draco wondered for a while, before deciding to simply ask him whether or not his ward wanted to continue writing it.

He found Harry in the Common Room playing Exploding Snap with Millicent and Blaise, while Pansy worked on an essay. She was sitting rather inappropriately (for a pureblood) crossed legged on the couch and scribbling onto a parchment which she placed on top of a pile of books. Theodore was somewhere – most likely the library.

When Harry realized that Draco stood there, leaning at the book cases, he looked up and grinned. “Hey Dray! Want to play with us?”

Smirking, Draco shook his head. “Not really. Exploding Snap is a game I’ve never really liked.”

“Why not?” Harry frowned and giggled, when Blaise’s card exploded and he groaned somewhat frustrated.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “It never really got to me.”

“Draco likes chess and other boring strategy games” Pansy muttered, only listening with one ear as she was writing something at the same time.

Harry grinned in her direction and then looked back at his Magical Guardian. “What do you want to do, Dray?”

Holding up his hands, Draco shook his head. “Oh no, bear. You just keep having fun! It’s really important that you laugh and play.”

“I want to do what you do!” Harry grinned and climbed over Millicent who was trying to play as fast as possible, without having to stress, so that her cards wouldn’t explode.

Draco smiled down at his ward. Harry was actually only a head (and maybe a half more) shorter than he was. “You flatter me, bear. Do you remember Ravo?”

Harry frowned and was just about to shake his head, when he widened his eyes. “Ravo... Yes! My penguin! Our story.”

Chuckling, Draco nodded. “Yeah, I just found it. Should we finish this story?”

“Yes!”

Harry practically dragged Draco into their room, where Draco had left the parchment. While Draco quickly transfigured a cushion into an additional chair to be placed at the desk, Harry sat down on the already existing chair.

“Very well, here’s the parchment of what happened.” Draco pointed to the paper and was delighted to find Harry actually reading it. Pansy and Blaise had done very well! He sat down next to his ward and continued: “Now, what do you think should happen next?”

“Hmm.” Harry rubbed his forehead and tilted his head slightly while he thought. “I think Ravo wants to go after his brothers, but because he’s small, he can’t keep up with them and... he is lost in a forest.”

“In a forest?” Well, yes. Draco frowned slightly. Madagascar had forests, but all of this sounded really weird for a penguin to have done so or actually, to have ended up there. “Okay. What does he want to do then?”

Harry moved slightly uncomfortable on his chair. “No, Draco, can you write it?” He moved the parchment so it lay in front of him.

Smiling softly, Draco looked at his ward. “You can write too, can’t you?”

“Yes, but you can do it better and...”

Draco quickly interrupted his ward and decided to give him some motivation to just try it. “Bear, I believe in you.”

It was quiet for a while, before Harry pulled the parchment back and chewed on his lower lip. Finally, after about a full minute of no words said, he smiled weakly. “Okay. But you need to help me.”

“Definitely, bear” Draco assured him. “What do you want to write?”

Harry was clearly unsure when he grabbed his quill. He scratched his forehead and turned to Draco. “In the forest, Ravo can’t find his brothers anymore.”

“Okay, how about... ‘In the forest, he lost sight of his older brothers.’”

Well, even if Draco had wanted to help Harry be creative, what he just said had definitely destroyed his creativity. Harry looked as if he had beaten him and he was very depressed. “See, you can write better than me!”

Shaking his head, Draco put an arm around his ward and smiled. “It’s just years of experience, Harry. I’m sure when you’re in my age you can write whole books with beautiful writings!”

“But I can’t now!” He crossed his arms and pouted.

It took everything in Draco not to start laughing, because Harry looked so darn cute. “I’ll teach you. I’ll help you.”

His ward turned to look at him. It was more an inspection as Harry seemingly tried to find out whether or not he was speaking the truth. After a few moments, he nodded and started writing. “Okay. So, in the forest, he lost sight of his older brothers. He... called out to them, but nobody answered.”

“Very good!” Draco praised.

“Thank you.” Harry blushed and looked back on his parchment. “Then, Ravo walked into a tree and...”

Draco frowned. “He walked into a tree?”

“Yes! And... a kitten fell down!” Harry kept talking.

“Okay. Why was she on the tree?”

“Cat’s like trees! Ze told me that. And Ravo likes kittens.”

Draco decided it was better to just go with it than question the imagination of a small boy. He named the strawberry cake for Merlin’s sake... This was much more normal than the other thing. “Got it. What’s next?”

Harry narrowed his eyes in thought and after a while he grinned. “Well, the kitten is hungry and Ravo looks into his backpack and finds... chocolate!”

“No! No, Harry, sorry.” Draco needed to stop Harry there. If he wanted to feed chocolate to an actual cat, that would not go well. He needed to tell his ward! “Cats can’t eat chocolate; it doesn’t work with their stomachs.”

“Oh.” Harry stared at the parchment, trying to find a solution for this problem. He found one rather quickly. “Well, this is a magical kitten that can eat chocolate. And it also shows Ravo the way out of the forest!”

“Okay, so we’ll write: A kitten fell down from the tree. Ravo has always liked kittens and so he asked it...”

Before Draco could say something, Harry interrupted him and started the interaction between his fictional characters: “How are you doing?”

Draco smiled. “That’s good. But don’t you think a ‘Are you okay?’ would be more appropriate?”

Harry nodded enthusiastically. “True, yes. Okay, so Ravo asked it: ‘Are you okay?’ The kitten looked at Ravo and shook its head. ‘No. I fell down from the tree!’ and Ravo said: ‘You’re a kitten, so you landed on your feet!’”

Smirking slightly, Draco nodded approvingly. That wouldn’t be a normal interaction, but he was so proud of Harry actually _writing_ everything down. He was doing so well! Draco knew full well that this was only thanks to Pansy and Blaise who had been very busy teaching him how to write and read.

“Very good, bear! And where’s the part where the kitten says that it’s hungry?”

Harry rolled his eyes, while he was scribbling down the last sentence. “Coming! Don’t be so impatient, Dray!”

“Sorry.” Draco laughed and rubbed his ward’s back.

Harry beamed at him and turned back to the parchment. “Okay: The kitten meowed and was sad. It said: ‘I don’t have anything to eat? Do you have chocolate for me? I’m a magical kitten that can eat chocolate!’ And Ravo looked into his backpack and found a piece of chocolate. He gave it to the kitten and said: ‘Of course I have chocolate! It’s the best! You can have it.’”

“That is so sweet of Ravo!”

“Right?!” Harry beamed again, as if he was Ravo. Well, there were a few things that made Draco think that he was in fact Ravo, however, he had no proof. Harry contined: “The kitten was really happy and led Ravo through the jungle and stopped at the... end?”

“The edge of the forest – or jungle as you just said?”

“Yes! The kitten stopped at the edge of the for... jungle. Ravo asked: ‘Aren’t you coming with me?’ And the kitten said: ‘No, you can go from here! Follow the path and you’ll end up at the school.’”

Draco frowned. “How does the kitten know that Ravo wants to go to school?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders and quickly closed that plot hole: “Everyone knows that!”

“Oh, yes, of course, excuse my lack of knowledge.” Draco chuckled and ruffled through Harry’s hair as he wrote that last sentence down. Before they could continue, they were once again interrupted by Theodore knocking on the door and telling them to come and eat dinner. Severus would be mad if they’d not show up during dinner. And Harry jumped up from the chair and ran towards Theodore, telling him everything about the story they had just written.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should be putting some text here, just in case.
> 
>  **warning** : Hey guys, so you were right, there’s a storm coming (just a small one in this chapter). However, I feel like writing it here, just in case you’re not okay with what is about to happen. 
> 
> There’s a reference to sexual abuse. It is absolutely _not_ graphic. It’s in the Injury Parchment, so if you’re not okay with it, just skip the parchment at the end. Also, maybe skip chapter 38, where Draco and gang deal with what they’ve learnt. Once again, I’m just telling you that this chapter will also not have any graphic descriptions. After that, chapter 39 will be “normal” again.
> 
> I hope you’re staying with me through this...  
> The next update is on Monday, I'm not going to let you wait long on that!

Draco sat on the couch, looking at Harry who had snatched the soft and fluffy pillow, holding it close to his chest while he listened to Blaise talk about some spell and its history. It was quite obvious how much Harry liked these fluffy things. He had first seen it with McGonagall’s Patronusses and it just stayed ever since.

Smiling softly, Draco checked his watch. He had just had an amazing idea and he needed to find out whether or not he could actually do it. Well, since it was in the morning and the shop would close over lunch, they needed to wait. Draco’s favourite clothes shop was very small and only three people worked in it. It was a family business. So, they closed then, especially on Saturday.

The door to the Common Room opened and Pansy walked in, followed by Millicent. They talked about... Draco frowned and tried to listen in, though they stopped talking when they saw him.

“Draco, darling” Pansy smirked. “Didn’t your mother teach you not to eavesdrop?”

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “Of course she did. But that’s the only way I could find out things about the Dark Lord when I was young, so...”

Millicent rolled her eyes. “You can’t just drop that name as if nothing's ever happened, Dray!”

Draco was just about to say something back – even though he didn’t have a wicked reply – when another voice interrupted their discussion.

“Who’s the Dark Lord?”

All eyes fell onto Harry who frowned at them. Draco had to swallow hard. The grin that had been on his face was long gone. In all honesty, he had no idea how to react to this question. Luckily, Pansy seemed to have a grip on how to handle it.

She sat down on the couch, next to Harry and sighed. “He was a very bad man. And he lived with Draco until he died.”

Harry widened his eyes surprised and turned to look at Draco, who nodded. “Why did he live with you? He’s dangerous?!”

“He _was_ , bear. Pansy is correct: he died. So now he can’t hurt anybody ever again” Draco explained and smiled encouragingly at his ward.

“Why did he die?” Harry asked.

The level of innocence was far too cute for Draco and he caught Pansy’s surprised look. Well, she shouldn’t be scared that he would tell him the truth – it was far too bad. “It was his time.”

There was an uncomfortable silence in the air, before Harry got up from his couch and sat down next to Draco rather scared. Draco frowned; he had thought that he had calmed down his ward. However, he looked as if something was killing him on the inside.

“What’s going on, bear?”

Harry snuggled into Draco’s side and he placed an arm around the Gryffindor. “Does that mean that you can die too? When it’s your time?”

Draco smiled softly and ruffled through his ward’s hair. “You know, normally, that would take around seventy more years, even more. Don’t be scared that I’ll die, bear. It won’t happen so soon.”

“And if Draco had a saying in it, he would never die!” Pansy grinned at Draco and then Harry.

Harry turned back to Draco and smiled weakly. “So, you’re not going to leave me?”

“Never.”

Well, Harry seemed to be fine after that, even though he was a little quieter during lunch. He did have a lot of fun goofing around with Theo and Blaise afterwards in their secret garden. And it took quite some convincing for Draco to get his ward for a day (or half a day) outside Hogwarts. But he really wanted to do this. He wanted to buy some clothes for his ward. Especially the really soft woollen jumper he had gotten when he was a child.

It was his happiest memory: the world had been okay at this point. His parents were still rather... strict, but they were nice and loving. He had gotten the smoothest, fluffiest jumper he had ever had. And he had treasured it as long as he could.

He needed to do this to Harry as well: he seemed to really enjoy fluffy things.

Draco apparated to one of the alleys branching away from Diagon Alley, Harry next to him, and they walked through the narrow street. Basically no one came here, as it were just a few boring little shops. However, they had a lot of pureblood customers, since the shops were much older than anything on Diagon Alley and it was basically a well kept secret amongst them.

The shop, Draco showed Harry, was extremely tiny: The fiery red pained door was basically the width of the shop. There were two rows of clothes and only once you passed them, you were in the middle, where magic widened the shop. There were elves hard at work, magical animals flying (or walking) around a very old man who sat in a rocking chair sleeping.

“Good evening, Bridger! Long time no see!” Draco called out and the snoring gentleman on the rocking chair jerked up. He adjusted his glasses and took a closer look at Draco.

A huge smile came across his face, as he recognized him. “Draco Malfoy! By Sal’zar, yoo’ve groon quite a bit! Ah min' th' day ye first cam intae mah stair! Ye waur sae wee!”

Draco nodded. Bridger had such a thick Scottish accent, sometimes it was even hard for him to understand it. Well, Draco also wondered why he spent his years in Diagon Alley and it had done absolutely nothing to his accent. However, he thought that it was part of his charm. “Well, I have a friend here who might be interested in one of your special jumpers.”

“Och, Ah ken whit ye pure techt! We hae a new collection, unicorn hair. Woods 'at be interestin' tae ye?”

Shaking his head, Draco politely denied. “No thank you. I know people like to have your new things: I’m much more of an old sentimental person. And I think my ward would be happy with that as well.”

“Ye ken what’s guid, sairrr. Weel 'en, come haur, laddie, I’ll see whit we can dae abit 'at jumper!” He waved Harry closer who, after a scared look at Draco, walked toward Bridger.

The old man took some measurements, while Draco sat down on a small chair and watched his ward closely. Something seemed weird all of a sudden. However, Draco couldn’t really pinpoint it. He only realized that Harry had some problems with Bridger touching him. Even if he just told him to turn around and touched his shoulders to indicate where he should turn to, Harry would startle, but follow what he wanted to have done. Draco needed to investigate sometime.

Bridger wrote down everything and turned back to Draco. “I’ve got somethin' ready 'at Ah simply need tae change slightly. It won’t tak' lang. Bide haur.”

While Bridger disappeared behind one of the many dark red coloured curtains, Harry walked back to Draco and sat down a little bit further away. Draco frowned slightly. “Are you okay, bear?”

“Hm? Oh yeah. Fine.”

That didn’t sound fine. Draco really didn’t feel like pushing it. And well, he also didn’t have to question Harry any more, as a few seconds later, Bridger appeared again. In his arms he had a grey jumper that looked so incredibly fluffy, that Draco was instantly jealous of his ward.

“Haur ye gang, a wee somethin' fur a brae laddie!” Bridger said and shook his head quickly, when Draco wanted to give him some Galleons. “It’s oan th' hoose, Draco Malfoy. Don’t ye fash yerse.”

“Thank you, Bridger. I might come back myself sometime to get one as well.”

“Ye ur huir uv a welcome tae come back onie time!”

When Draco handed Harry the jumper, the boy widened his eyes and buried himself in the soft wool. He seemed so happy and content when he did that, which made Draco feel as if he had made the correct decision.

“Let’s go back to Hogwarts, bear. We have an appointment with Madam Pomfrey.”

“Okay.”

They bid goodbye and Draco apparated them back to Hogwarts, noticing how Harry winced when he touched his arm. Was it broken maybe? Draco was glad that they had to see Madam Pomfrey, she could confirm whether or not something had happened to his arm and probably also help him to heal it. 

Nothing would have prepared Draco for what he was about to see on the Injury Parchment, once Madam Pomfrey handed it to him, white in her face.

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
>   2. **17 months old** : Officially adopted by the Dursley family
>   3. **22 months old** : Fell down the stairs – being pushed by his cousin, some bruises on legs and arms
>   4. **2 years, 1 month old** : Official bedroom – Cupboard under the stairs
>   5. **2 years, 3 months old** : Jammed right arm between cupboard door and wall while being pushed out of the way – clean break, no healer visit
>   6. **2 years, 8 months old** : No food for two weeks
>   7. **2 years, 11 months old** : blamed for mess that wasn’t his – imprisoned in his cupboard for 10 days
>   8. **3 years, 1 month old** : sprained left wrist – cousin attached a rope to it and pulled him around the house and garden for a day
>   9. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of accidental magic – put out a kitchen fire his cousin started – no food for 7 days as punishment
>   10. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of malnourishment
>   11. **3 years, 5 months old** : housework – do parts of the dusting
>   12. **3 years, 6 months old** : got knocked out by a ball, thrown by his cousin – mild concussion, no healer visit
>   13. **3 years, 10 months old** : housework – weed the garden
>   14. **3 years, 11 months old** : Pneumonia – no healer visits
>   15. **4 years, 3 months old** : No food for 9 days
>   16. **4 years, 4 months old** : imprisoned in cupboard for 16 days
>   17. **4 years, 7 months old** : sprained right ankle – no healer visit, healed correctly
>   18. **4 years, 8 months old** : housework – mop the floors
>   19. **4 years, 11 months old** : accidental magic – cleaned kitchen – no food for 9 days s punishment
>   20. **5 years, 3 months old** : housework: make all the food
>   21. **5 years, 5 months old** : caught stealing crumbs from plates – no food for 6 days as punishment
>   22. **5 years, 7 months old** : Skiing holiday (no training), broke left leg – healer visit, healed correctly
>   23. **5 years , 8 months old** : No food for ten days
>   24. **5 years, 9 months old** : Sleep deprivation – nightly work for Party
>   25. **5 years, 11 months old** : broken left leg by Aunt Marge for not letting his cousin win – no healer visit
>   26. **6 years, 1 month old** : beaten by his uncle, scars on his back, infected through no healer visit
>   27. **6 years, 3 months old** : housework: clean all the windows
>   28. **6 years, 4 months old** : accused of breaking two expensive vases, imprisoned in cupboard for 3 weeks, only let out for housework
>   29. **6 years, 6 months old** : sent to school; excuse for being late – having moved from his family to his aunt and uncle, illiterate
>   30. **6 years, 8 months old** : potential friends being pushed away by his cousin, pushed into a rose bush by cousin
>   31. **6 years, 9 months old** : accidental magic – while being hunted, apparated onto the roof of his school
>   32. **7 years old** : had nightmares and tried to get out of cupboard, punishment: beaten by belt and thrown back into cupboard
>   33. **7 years, 2 months old** : Flowers and plants died in hot summer, being blamed for it, punched by aunt 
>   34. **7 years, 3 months old** : school assignment destroyed by aunt for having needed to look into his family history – double housework as punishment
>   35. **7 years, 5 months old** : school sends Social Worker home, aunt and uncle manage to make her think he’s a problem child
>   36. **7 years, 8 months old** : aunt called school to cancel his field trip, no food for fifteen days as punishment
>   37. **8 years, 1 month old** : Harry Hunting Game invented by his cousin
>   38. **8 years, 3 months old** : dislocated shoulder – running away from cousin and his friends, healer visit and no food for 10 days as punishment
>   39. **8 years, 6 months old** : housework: do all the housework
>   40. **8 years, 8 months old** : stumbled over own feet due to malnourishment, school sends another Social Worker, nothing happened
>   41. **8 years, 9 months old** : Punished for doing housework incorrectly, beaten by aunt with frying pan
>   42. **8 years, 11 months old** : Sexually abused by uncle – no healer visit
> 



	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not like graphic descriptions of violence. So, I decided to be a little creative and I changed Draco’s POV. I am sorry about that and it won’t happen again, but I actually kinda like the second part. It makes it more mysterious.
> 
> If you’re not happy with reading about this, stay around for the next chapter, where I will not talk about it anymore (that much).
> 
> Anyway, thank you for staying with me (and the story) through this!

Draco closed the door to the Common Room with such aggression that his friends actually walked out from their hiding spot and looked at him questioning. He was fuming. No, not even close to that, he was pissed. Absolutely _fucking_ mad. Who did they think they were?! How was Harry not fucking messed up?!

Turning to his best friend, Draco narrowed his eyes. “Pans, you’re coming with me!”

“What, why? What’s going on?” Pansy frowned, though she walked through the room to actually stay next to him. It was nice to see her actually come closer, but he was still absolutely mad.

He gritted his teeth. “I’m going to visit these stupid fucking relatives and teach them a lesson.”

“Dray, you’re an official former Death Eater, if they’ll catch you threatening Muggles, you’re in Azkaban.” Theodore shook his head as he crossed the room, also rather confused, just like the rest of them.

“Do I look like I care?”

“I’m with Draco here” Blaise shrugged his shoulder.

Theodore turned to look at him stunned and shook his head again. This time at the other Slytherin. “Blaise! He’s going to kill them!”

Draco denied it immediately. “Nope. Just seriously scare them.”

“I’ll come with.” Pansy confirmed.

Millicent added: “Me too.”

Theodore held up his hands. “Wait, who’s looking after Harry?”

“He’s still in the Infirmary. He’ll spend the night there” Draco informed them, when he turned around to grab his jacket.

Pansy held him back and frowned. “What happened to him, Draco?”

Draco, however, was already thinking about something else. “Maybe we can tell Ginny and Luna to go visit him. They seem to have fun joking around with him. And he might be more comfortable with women around him.”

His best friend stepped in front of him and stopped him effectively in his way, bringing him back to reality. A stupid fucked up kind of reality. “Draco, what happened to Harry?!”

Draco looked darkly at her and his friends. “He was sexually abused by his uncle.”

Silence. No one said anything. Everyone stood there, mouth agape, not sure what to say. Yes, even Draco hadn’t known how to react to it. He had never in his life cursed that much! After he had found out he would have liked to punch everyone! But he had to stay strong for Harry.

“Are there any long term effects that Madam Pomfrey told you about?” Blaise asked quietly.

“No.” That was the only good thing coming out of this stupid situation. “Madam Pomfrey said that since we did a good job in raising him, he won’t really have any memories of it. He just had a little problem with people touching him...”

Pansy snarled when she interrupted him. “No kidding!”

Draco nodded and continued: “But that was just because it had just happened in his younger years. From now on, there might just be flashes if something really bad happens, but she things it’s... fine.”

Pansy and Blaise exchanged looks and Draco knew exactly what they were thinking. He knew his best friend had an uncle who did unspeakable things to her. After the summer, she would always lie in Draco’s bed crying into his shoulders. It took about two months until she was her old self again. Draco didn’t know much about Blaise’s home life, but he knew Pansy talked to him about her uncle as well. She would never do that if there hadn’t been for someone else having lived through the same experiences. 

“Draco, you can’t be seen outside of Hogwarts...” Theodore started.

Well, Draco interrupted him, before he could finish his sentence. No one was going to tell him to ignore what had happened to his ward. It was his responsibility to make him feel comfortable and safe and loved. And none of these three things above had happened in the past few hours.

“ _Do I look like I care!?_ ” Draco snapped at his friend.

Theodore continued as if nothing had happened: “...which is why I think we need to visit Hermione.”

“Why?” Millicent shook her head. “Draco’s right, we need to make them pay!”

“She has been brewing some Polyjuice Potion as her project in Potions.” Theodore explained. “We’re transforming Draco, so nobody thinks it’s him. Or can prove it for that matter.”

Pansy shook her head. “They might be looking for him here!”

This time, it was Blaise who had the idea: “I’ll stay back. I’ll give you an alibi.”

“What are you talking about?” Draco shook his head.

“I’ll stay in the library, many people will see me... you there. And when they come questioning, you can say you stayed here.”

Draco narrowed his eyes, looking at his friends. They were all far too deep in here. Maybe he should do this alone. If he were to be found out, Azkaban would have a nice cosy cell for him, probably right next to his father. “Guys, don’t do this. I’m okay on my own.”

“No, you’re not.” Theodore shook his head.

Millicent seemed to agree: “Someone needs to keep you in check from actually killing his relatives.”

Draco frowned. “I won’t kill them. Just seriously hurt or punish them...”

“Draco!” Pansy was just about to say something else, quite possibly stopping him.

“No, Pansy! They cannot just get away with that! They have done so many hurtful things to him! This is the last thing that’ll happen!” Draco snapped once again, effectively getting rid of his best friend and grabbing a jacket.

Theodore stood in Draco’s way, arms crossed. “Either we all go or no one goes, Draco!”

Well, if everyone was coming, the chance of seriously scarring this stupid fucking Muggle would be higher. And Draco knew that Pansy was going to use this as punishment for what had happened to her. He was a little surprised that Blaise wasn’t coming; however... everyone had their own way of processing things. And so Draco finally agreed.

“Alright then. Let’s go to the Gryffindor tower and find Hermione. Ginny might be there as well so we can tell her to go visit Harry.” Theodore said to Blaise and Draco. He then turned to Millicent and Pansy. “You go outside and we’ll meet you on the outside of Hogwarts’ wards. We’ll apparate to where they live now. Do you know where?” He asked Draco.

“Oh yes. I am prepared.” Draco answered darkly.

“Then let’s get this fucking party started!” Pansy said it just as dark as Draco had answered. These relatives were going to regret ever having messed with their Harry!

*

It was already dark when four hooded figures appeared on an empty street somewhere outside of a big city. The street was quiet and empty, cars neatly parked in the drive ways, gardens looked pretty. The white picket fences seemed to glow by the light of a full moon. Somewhere, a lonely dog howled at its only friend and the wind carefully brushed over the area as if it was afraid of touching anything.

There were so few houses all in different colours around that it wasn’t hard to figure out which of the softly illuminated living rooms was supposed to be the right one. In the windows, you could see people watching games, series or movies. One couple was playing with their dog, another enjoyed some wine while others danced around the living room. They were not the targets.

The covered figures followed the first one, once it started to move towards the first house on that lane. The exterior of that house was well kept in place. The car in the drive way was cleaned regularly, the garden had no weed and the roses had won a lot of prizes for their perfection during last summer. The pebbles were on the walk way and not even one of these things had found its way into the grass that even in winter looked greener than the others. The windows were cleaned; the white lace curtains looked untouched. And through these windows you could see a clearly overweight older man sitting in front of the television, glaring at a game. He had almost a bucket of wine in his hands and screamed some profanities at the electric machine.

The figures outside stood still for a few moments, before they moved again, when a woman entered and took a seat next to the man. They seemed to be the only ones at home. Unlucky them.

With a silent movement, the front door unlocked even without a key and the four hooded figures scurried into the otherwise dark house. 

Elsewhere, a car just arrived and a half-cut couple left the car giggling and complementing each other that they had made it home without any problem, even though only one of them had been driving. They entered their own home, illuminating another living room window, before they fell onto the floor, laughing and quite probably getting something else to drink as well.

There was a loud cat screeching and some others joining, which was quite clearly starting to become a fight. The dog howled in response and some bats flew around, locating things to eat. All the while, the wind was playing with the leafless trees, making them tap onto windows and scaring some half asleep child in their helpless state.

A few moments later, the street was illuminated for a few seconds by a strange kind of light. Not entirely green, though not blue or black either, but joining all its colours. Later, people would call it an alien visit, though for now... Only a small bird saw it.

And that bird couldn’t say anything about it, as it was quickly caught by a midnight black cat and consumed. The four hooded figures left the house as if nothing had been touched and within the blink of an eye... they were gone again. No one had seen them coming and no one had seen them leaving. It was as if they had never been there.

The bats continued hunting for food, the dogs howled at the moon again and the cats hissed at each other just as they had before. Only two people had changed. And they would never be the same.


	39. Chapter 39

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Draco sat on the front steps of the castle, looking down to where basically all of Hogwarts had descended to: Hogsmeade was full of students, enjoying a surprisingly early exit. Since it was almost Valentine’s Day, it was only natural that everyone went there to buy something for their crushes. It was clear to him that McGonagall had done this on purpose.

Well, and then there was Draco sitting there, talking to none other than Hermione Granger. Never would he have believed that one day, he would be talking to her civilized and without trying to outdo her – what was he even trying to prove, honestly?! Actually, he had just thought that Harry might have needed a little more space than their secret garden could give him, though apparently that wasn't the case. And while he had sat there, the Gryfindor had walked up from Hogsmeade and simply sat down next to him as if nothing bad had ever happened between them

Hermione frowned and followed his gaze, sighing. “Well, Draco, You’re doing _something_ right. Harry never looked so happy, not even in his adulthood.” She frowned as if she had just realized something. Her face fell as she looked back at him. “Actually, I have seen him this happy: When Sirius told him they could be family. And whenever he would see him, he was so incredibly happy.”

Draco nodded, playing with a string of grass by ripping it into pieces. “It’s only a few more days until he remembers Hogwarts.” Draco sighed and rubbed his forehead. “He hates me!”

Weirdly enough, Hermione started to chuckle and shook her head. “Well, at least we have _something_ in common then, don’t we.”

“What are you talking about? He loves you! You and Weasel and Ginny... He’s always around you!” Draco shook his head and sighed again. This was slowly just becoming too much.

Hermione smirked. “You clearly don’t remember our first year, Draco. I was an insufferable know-it-all. I still kind of am, but I’m trying to better myself. In first year, I was way too focused on not being expelled; I believed it to be worse than dying.”

Draco couldn’t resist and started to laugh. It got the attention of Harry who was playing in the mud and jumped up, running at the two of them. “What are you talking about?” he asked and placed himself in the middle of them. He seemed incredibly happy and Draco had realized rather quickly that he had stopped wincing whenever someone touched him. Actually, he was back to his old self. Somehow, Draco was sure that it worked that way, because he had never done something bad, like beaten him or...

“We were reminiscing of the good old days” Hermione smirked and winked at Draco.

As luck would have it, her boyfriend just so happened to walk closer and he widened his eyes at her actions. “Oh for Merlin’s saggy tits, no, Hermione!”

“Language!” Draco called towards Weasel and rolled his eyes.

Harry’s friend turned to look at him and shook his head. “My girlfriend just flirted with you and you call me out on my foul language? You’ve got some nerve...”

Harry was giggling in the middle of them and actually got Ron’s attention, before Draco had the chance to say something... Well, he still had the chance to say something.

“We weren’t flirting, Weasley. I know better than to date a Gryffindor!”

“Hey!” Hermione looked at him accusatory, to which Draco just held up his hands in mocked surrender. 

“Slytherin and Gryffindor do absolutely not match with their personalities! Gryffindors would jump into a dark whole, not knowing what lies at the bottom, Slytherins would find a way to light up the dark and actually _see_ what is going on.”

Weasley shook his head. “Where’s your sense of _adventure_ , Malfoy?”

Draco snorted. “Where’s your sense of _survival_ , Weasley!”

Hermione smirked and shook her head at the two of them. “Boys, play nice.” She rolled her eyes, though there was a revealing smile on her lips.

Before anyone could say something again, Harry got up, told them that they were boring and walked back to the mud and started building snow men... out of mud.

By this time, Hermione turned back to Draco, somehow happy that Harry had left them. And probably also that he was otherwise preoccupied. “So, what did you do to his relatives?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t know what you’re talking about.” Draco held out his hands as if he had no idea what their new topic was.

Weasley raised his eyebrows and shook his head. He clearly wanted to know what had happened last night. Draco wouldn’t be surprised if all of Hogwarts had known that they had left the castle in the evening to teach these damn relatives a lesson. “Oh come off it, Malfoy. Tell us; what did you do to them?”

Draco shook his head. Never in a million years! “Whatever you’re talking about, I have no idea; I was in the library all evening long. A lot of people must’ve seen me.”

At this time, Hermione joined and nodded approvingly. “Actually, I have seen him. At half past eight, I sat down at the same table and we started working together.”

“And what did we work on exactly?” Draco frowned. Blaise hadn’t said that something had happened. Though maybe that was because they hadn’t had time to talk to each other after they had come back. Everyone went straight to bed and this morning, there were too many people around to have a secret discussion about something that officially hadn’t happened.

“Whatever you want it to be, Draco.” Hermione smirked and shrugged her shoulders. “Though the books we had on the table were about the Study of Ancient Runes.”

“Yeah, that convinces me.” Draco chuckled and looked at Harry who had by now managed to build one tiny mud...man.

Weasley shook his head and gained Draco’s attention again. “It doesn’t have to convince you, Malfoy, but us” he pointed at himself and drew circles in the air. “And everyone else. Whatever you did must’ve been horrific.”

“I. Wouldn’t. Know” Draco emphasized. He rolled his eyes and gave a dark grin. “And if I knew, I would say that they had it coming! They thought themselves to be so high and unreachable. Well, we’ve just shown them that they are absolutely reachable and can get hurt. Just because they thought a small child wouldn’t do something against them doesn’t mean a man can’t do something to them.”

It was quiet for a moment, until Hermione cleared her throat. “Why did you do that?”

“It was enough.”

“Yes, but what was it that made this change?” the witch wondered and narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to find a reason herself.

“Nothing particularly bad” Draco lied. If Harry wanted to tell them once he was older again, that was fine. But for now, he wasn’t going to tell them what had happened. “It was just everything all together.”

“Malfoy, why won’t you tell us what you did to them?” Weasley crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. It looked as if he thought he could assert dominance by that.

Draco gave a short laugh and shook his head. “Your father works in the Ministry! If you accidentally tell him what happened, even if _I wasn’t there_ , which we have established by now... I could get into some serious trouble.”

“Okay, so what happened to them? You don’t have to tell us who did it, just tell us what you’ve heard” Hermione offered and grinned.

These Gryffindors didn’t know when to stop, did they? Draco shook his head and decided to give them at least something small. Weasley’s father was working for the Ministry, so they would probably find out sooner rather than later. “ _I heard_ that there might have been a very old and brutal spell involved.”

“What does it do?” Hermione wanted to know.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing, if you have nothing serious to hide.”

“And if you have?” Weasley asked, clearly oblivious to this old pureblood spell. Draco could actually see his brain working hard to figure out what spell it was. Somehow, Draco doubted Weasley would have known about it. His family wasn’t that into pureblood culture.

Shaking his head one more time, Draco denied any more answers. “I won’t answer that. It’s too specific. For now, you can still tell the Aurors honestly that I wasn’t there, but if I were to tell you the spell...”

“Well, I hope you made them pay.” Hermione’s eyes had suddenly gone dark. Draco briefly wondered how much she knew, but decided to ignore that question.

“Oh, we did. Don’t you worry about that!”

Before the questioning from these two not really good enough Gryffindors could continue, the headmistress appeared behind Draco. He knew who it was as Weasley, who was the only one facing the door, jerked up, before relaxing and smiling. Only one person would have this reaction: McGonagall.

Draco didn’t turn around, only watched Harry building another mud... snowman. He looked at his watch and got up to walk over to his ward. “Hey, Harry, do you remember that we have another meeting with Madam Pomfrey?”

“What?” Harry looked up and probably out of curiosity what would happen he threw some mud onto Draco’s white shirt.

Slightly shocked, Draco looked down at his shirt and back at his ward who had serious trouble hiding his laughter. Draco raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat.

“Harry James Potter! What are you doing?” he tried to be serious. He really did. However, seeing his ward on the floor – in the mud – laughing loudly, brought a smirk onto his face and he ended up snorting and sitting down in the mud himself. Shortly after, he started laughing and shook his head.

He only stopped, once a shadow fell over him. Hermione stood there shaking her head as well. “What are _you_ doing? How is he supposed to grow up knowing how to behave properly when you just start laughing whenever he does something stupid?”

Harry stopped, looked up and seemed slightly scared. “I’m stupid?”

“No! No, you’re not.” Draco shook his head and smiled at his ward, before turning to Hermione. “Well, Harry knows how to behave properly. Who said you can’t have fun? Why are so stuck up, Granger?” Even though he had used her last name, he made sure to infuse a softer tone, when he spoke.

Did he know more than Granger? That was actually interesting that he could deal with children better than she could! Or maybe it was just today, he didn’t want to think that he was actually smarter than she was.

Before she could say something, McGonagall came out of the shadows and at the same time, Pansy appeared. Harry saw her and jumped out of the mud and ran at her... throwing mud at her as well. Draco’s best friend screeched and ran away from Harry only to slip on the mud man he had built and landing directly on top of Draco, before sliding into the mud herself. 

“Good afternoon” McGonagall greeted them and everyone except Draco and Ron jerked up and looked at her surprised.

Draco had serious trouble hiding his grin as he got up, stepped out of the puddle and tried to clean his clothes from the dirt. He helped Pansy out of the mud and turned back to McGonagall. “Good afternoon, headmistress. Have you come to enjoy an afternoon outside?”

McGonagall smiled at him and he thought he saw her smirk for just a second. “No thank you, I’d rather stay in my safe and clean office. I came to tell you that I have granted Madam Pomfrey’s request for a child psychologist. I’ve already reached out to someone who’s coming in thirty minutes to see Potter. He studied at Hogwarts though went into the Muggle world to study psychology and whatever else you would need. You can join the session for the first time if you wish to do so” she said to Draco and nodded.

“Thank you, Professor” Draco answered and smiled.

“That’s tremendous!” Pansy called out and chuckled, before she was hit by mud from Harry who giggled.

The headmistress stopped in front of the entrance and turned around again. “Maybe clean yourself up, before you visit the healer.” With that she was gone and Pansy started to laugh loudly, Harry joining quickly as well.

Draco rolled his eyes, but motioned his ward to follow him. “Let’s get you clean, Harry. We need to give a good first impression to this gentleman, right?”

“Yes!” Harry laughed and grabbed Pansy’s hand to make her come as well. She was more than willing to follow him. Draco wanted to as well, though Hermione held him back a little.

At the door, he saw his ward turn around and frown at them.

“I’ll be right with you, bear. Just a second!” Draco called and nodded. Pansy grabbed his hand and they both vanished in the darkness of the shadows inside. Turning back to Harry’s friends, Draco frowned slightly. “What?”

“Why does Harry need a child psychologist?” Hermione asked and placed her hands at her hips.

Draco shrugged. He wasn’t going to tell them the real reason. “Madam Pomfrey performed a spell that would tell us what happened in his childhood with his relatives. There are a lot of things that aren’t normal and we think it might be better if he has someone who’s a professional and who can help him with it. That’s also the reason I’m not telling him how he should behave properly. He didn’t have a childhood when he was a child. At least now, he can have one.”

“Shit, Malfoy” Weasley widened his eyes and shook his head. “You’re a far better person than I thought you were.”

Frowning slightly, Draco turned it into a smirk and shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Thanks, Weasley.”


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's the deal: This chapter had nothing to do with what happened to the Dursleys, but I know (reading your comments) that you want to know. So, I've been writing for the past 2 days (it's not finished) and there you're getting your answers!
> 
> However, this is a two-parter (at the moment), so you're getting an update tomorrow and on Friday. I hope you're happy about this :D

On Monday morning, Draco had all but forgotten the incident that had happened on Friday night. However, there were more important things happening: Draco had his first Charms class, where Harry was allowed to be in. Harry was overly excited and luckily, they only had Charms with Gryffindors. Draco thought they would be okay with their classmate in this room.

Oh, he was so wrong. Basically nobody paid attention, as small Harry was apparently everything people would talk about. And yes, he did look precious and adorable with his wand watching Flitwick with big eyes and then reading in the books what he should be able to do. If Pansy hadn’t been used to this scene (minus the wand), he was sure she’d be on the floor, squealing and rocking back and forth over the purity of his ward.

Draco turned back to Flitwick who called for attention for about the tenth time already. “So, now that we repeated all the water spells we know, it’s time to use all of them and actually create rain. Rain that looks flawless, just like nature.”

Harry widened his eyes and turned to Draco. “We can do that?” he whispered. Draco shrugged his shoulders.

“Apparently” he answered. To which Harry turned back to their professor who wrote down the spell on the blackboard. _Partum Pluviam_.

Flitwick then presented the specific hand and wand movements, before he told them to repeat the spell without any movements. And then, they were supposed to test it. To nobody’s surprise, Hermione’s rain was perfect after the first try. Finnigan created thunder and dark stormy clouds. Theodore’s rain was competing with Hermione’s for the best one and Pansy managed to almost flood the whole classroom with the pelting rain he had created.

Harry had followed everyone closely and Draco watched him carefully. In the middle of all that chaos, his ward cleared his throat and looked at his wand, then his hands and towards the front, where the spell was written down (though by now it was almost washed away by the rain). Flitwick was dealing with Pansy’s flooding and when Draco turned back to Harry, he held his wand out.

“Partum Pluviam” he said calmly and performed the wand movement. After not even a second, a nice warm jungle rain like style trickled down on them. It was so thin and almost none existent that it seemed as if the air was just suddenly made out of water.

Their professor looked around and beamed. “This is also very well done!” he praised, though he was clearly unable to see who cast it.

“Well done, bear!” Draco congratulated, when he leaned towards his ward, who beamed through his wet curls.

After the class, they all had to head over to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey glared at Flitwick for once again having offered potential for getting anybody sick. Luckily, it had only gotten Dean Thomas, who had apparently somehow managed to make it rain inside his clothes and had not figured out how to undo it. Well, and he had also gotten Longbottom, who took it rather well. He was still in a fit of laughter, when Madam Pomfrey checked up on him and went to grab some potions.

Meanwhile, Harry turned to Draco, slightly scared and nervous. “Are we here for another evaluation?”

Draco frowned. The next test was only in four days, however, maybe the mediwitch would be fine testing his ward now. After all, he then didn’t need to come back on Wednesday. However, they had also done the last test only a few days ago, so maybe for her it wouldn’t work out... “Well, we can ask Madam Pomfrey, but I don’t think it’s necessary right now.”

“If we do it now, maybe I don’t have to come here for ten days?” Harry had apparently had the same idea he had. Plus the hope in his eyes made it hard for Draco to say something against it.

“You don’t like it here?” He asked slightly chuckling.

Harry shook his head and grinned. “I like the dungeons better.”

Longbottom looked up from his bed and frowned. “Wait, you like the dungeon, little man? Why would you like the dungeon?” Even though Harry hadn’t met him yet, apparently, he didn’t seem like such a threat. Maybe it was because he was still completely wet and he was lying in a hospital bed. Harry only grinned at him and shrugged his shoulders.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Longbottom, what’s your point?”

“My point is... how can anybody like the lonely and dark dungeons?!” He asked, throwing his hands into the air, while water drops almost created a rainbow. Harry giggled at this.

“That’s funny; I cannot understand how you Gryffindors could even like the windy and cold towers of Gryffindor!” Draco answered, fully realising that Harry somehow was incredibly interested in their playful stabs. Who would have thought that he would be talking to a Gryffindor like that...?

Longbottom shrugged his shoulders. “That’s easy, we have a fire place.”

“So do we!” Draco laughed and shook his head.

“Really?” Longbottom pretended to be very surprised, which made Harry actually snort, while he giggled. Draco was sure he had realized that he could make the other Gryffindor laugh with whatever they were doing. “I thought the dungeons were a few thousand years behind our capacity!”

Hell no! This Gryffindor was not getting the last of their discussion! Also, Gryffindor had apparently some weird things as well, if the rumours were to be believed. “Oh you mean the stairs that turn into a slide should a boy walk up to the girls’ dormitory?”

Longbottom now looked very surprised and Draco caught his ward giggle again. “How do you know?!” he asked, clearly confused. “Wait, you don’t have that?”

“No.” Draco called out while Harry started laughing. “Why should we have slides? Our dungeon is rather flat, mate.”

“So what do they do to keep you out of there?”

“Nothing... We just don’t go there...” Draco shrugged his shoulders. "Or we just hang out with our friends."

Longbottom had a sort of weird grin on his face and shook his head. “Oh, come on, Malfoy! Did you never have the urge to...”

Draco quickly interrupted the Gryffindor. Nobody was going to talk like that in front of his little ward! “Nope! Stop talking about things like that in front of a child, dear Gryffindor nerd.”

“Oops, sorry, Harry.” Longbottom looked at least slightly guilty, though he had still a lopsided grin, which made Draco roll his eyes. Well, Harry was by now in a fit of giggles, so he hadn’t heard absolutely anything.

That moment, the door to the Hospital Wing closed and everyone looked over to see Pansy stay there. “What are you apologising for, Longbottom?” she asked suspiciously.

The Gryffindor chuckled, while she shook his wet robes, where the rain had luckily stopped pouring out. “I may have started to say something inappropriate to Harry.”

“What would that be?” Pansy asked, frowning. Harry had stopped laughing and sat grinning on his bed, following the discussion again.

Draco rolled his eyes. “No, Pansy, stop! What are you even doing here? Didn’t Madam Pomfrey clear you ten minutes ago?”

“Yes, but you weren’t out yet, so I decided to come back and see where you’re at...”

Madam Pomfrey was back and handed Longbottom a vial with some yellow glowing substance, which he downed without even questioning it. He had definitely spent enough time in the Hospital Wing that he wasn’t even going to ask something anymore. She quickly dried his clothes and nodded.

“Mister Longbottom, you’re free to leave. Please stay away from any cold weather for the next twenty-four hours” she explained.

Longbottom had this sudden shocked expression on his face. “What? But I have a date in Hogsmeade this evening!”

“Oooh!” Pansy grinned and pretended it was the most amazing news she had ever heard.

“Pansy, stay out of this!” Draco advised her, as he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Mister Longbottom, if your health is of your most important concern, you should stay out of the cold. If your love life is your most important concern...” Madam Pomfrey shrugged and went back to her desk.

“If your virginity is of your most important concern, you may leave the compound” Pansy mimicked the healer.

Longbottom started to laugh now as well and held his stomach after a solid minute of laughing, in which not only Pansy and Harry, but Draco had joined in. “Thank you healer Parkinson, I’ll have you know that I am not a virgin anymore.” He said, whipping tears of laughter from his face.

“And why is that important information?” Pansy smirked.

“Just thought you should know.” Longbottom got up from his bed, winked at her and left.

Before Draco could ask whether or not Pansy – who was acting really suspiciously around Longbottom – had a date with this Gryffindor, he was distracted, by Harry asking a question: “Dray, what is a virgin?”

Draco was shocked and answered the only thing he could think of right now. “Nothing that should be interesting to you now!”

“It’s someone who hasn’t had sex before.” Pansy smiled and sat down on the bed.

“Pans! What are you doing?!” Draco widened his eyes in shock, while his best friend simply shrugged her shoulders.

“Explaining shit.”

Madam Pomfrey cleared her throat next to them and when Draco looked at her, he wasn’t sure whether or not she was annoyed by them. Maybe she was annoyed that Longbottom would most likely not do what she had told him. Or maybe she wasn’t happy that Pansy had just answered Harry’s virginity question. Well, no. Most likely, she wasn’t okay with the fact that Pansy had sworn in front of little Harry.

“Mister Potter, you have no lasting effects from the rain. Would you like me to quickly go over the Injury Parchment, so we did it for this week?” Madam Pomfrey asked Draco, ignoring Pansy’s and Draco’s discussion a little bit prior.

“If you think that would be helpful, I’d have nothing against it.”

Madam Pomfrey nodded and conjured another parchment.

> **Life Events/ Injuries**
> 
>   1. **15 months old** : Survived the Killing Curse
>   2. **17 months old** : Officially adopted by the Dursley family
>   3. **22 months old** : Fell down the stairs – being pushed by his cousin, some bruises on legs and arms
>   4. **2 years, 1 month old** : Official bedroom – Cupboard under the stairs
>   5. **2 years, 3 months old** : Jammed right arm between cupboard door and wall while being pushed out of the way – clean break, no healer visit
>   6. **2 years, 8 months old** : No food for two weeks
>   7. **2 years, 11 months old** : blamed for mess that wasn’t his – imprisoned in his cupboard for 10 days
>   8. **3 years, 1 month old** : sprained left wrist – cousin attached a rope to it and pulled him around the house and garden for a day
>   9. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of accidental magic – put out a kitchen fire his cousin started – no food for 7 days as punishment
>   10. **3 years, 2 months old** : First signs of malnourishment
>   11. **3 years, 5 months old** : housework – do parts of the dusting
>   12. **3 years, 6 months old** : got knocked out by a ball, thrown by his cousin – mild concussion, no healer visit
>   13. **3 years, 10 months old** : housework – weed the garden
>   14. **3 years, 11 months old** : Pneumonia – no healer visits
>   15. **4 years, 3 months old** : No food for 9 days
>   16. **4 years, 4 months old** : imprisoned in cupboard for 16 days
>   17. **4 years, 7 months old** : sprained right ankle – no healer visit, healed correctly
>   18. **4 years, 8 months old** : housework – mop the floors
>   19. **4 years, 11 months old** : accidental magic – cleaned kitchen – no food for 9 days s punishment
>   20. **5 years, 3 months old** : housework: make all the food
>   21. **5 years, 5 months old** : caught stealing crumbs from plates – no food for 6 days as punishment
>   22. **5 years, 7 months old** : Skiing holiday (no training), broke left leg – healer visit, healed correctly
>   23. **5 years , 8 months old** : No food for ten days
>   24. **5 years, 9 months old** : Sleep deprivation – nightly work for Party
>   25. **5 years, 11 months old** : broken left leg by Aunt Marge for not letting his cousin win – no healer visit
>   26. **6 years, 1 month old** : beaten by his uncle, scars on his back, infected through no healer visit
>   27. **6 years, 3 months old** : housework: clean all the windows
>   28. **6 years, 4 months old** : accused of breaking two expensive vases, imprisoned in cupboard for 3 weeks, only let out for housework
>   29. **6 years, 6 months old** : sent to school; excuse for being late – having moved from his family to his aunt and uncle, illiterate
>   30. **6 years, 8 months old** : potential friends being pushed away by his cousin, pushed into a rose bush by cousin
>   31. **6 years, 9 months old** : accidental magic – while being hunted, apparated onto the roof of his school
>   32. **7 years old** : had nightmares and tried to get out of cupboard, punishment: beaten by belt and thrown back into cupboard
>   33. **7 years, 2 months old** : Flowers and plants died in hot summer, being blamed for it, punched by aunt 
>   34. **7 years, 3 months old** : school assignment destroyed by aunt for having needed to look into his family history – double housework as punishment
>   35. **7 years, 5 months old** : school sends Social Worker home, aunt and uncle manage to make her think he’s a problem child
>   36. **7 years, 8 months old** : aunt called school to cancel his field trip, no food for fifteen days as punishment
>   37. **8 years, 1 month old** : Harry Hunting Game invented by his cousin
>   38. **8 years, 3 months old** : dislocated shoulder – running away from cousin and his friends, healer visit and no food for 10 days as punishment
>   39. **8 years, 6 months old** : housework: do all the housework
>   40. **8 years, 8 months old** : stumbled over own feet due to malnourishment, school sends another Social Worker, nothing happened
>   41. **8 years, 9 months old** : Punished for doing housework incorrectly, beaten by aunt with frying pan
>   42. **8 years, 11 months old** :Sexually abused by uncle – no healer visit
>   43. **9 years, 2 months old** : broke right arm, running away from cousin and friends – clean break no healer visit
>   44. **9 years, 5 months old** : new child in school, he tried making friends, cousin brought new child to his own friend circle, he was chased around for fun
>   45. **9 years, 6 months old** : punished for making noise while uncle and aunt have guests over, 10 days without food
>   46. **9 years, 8 months old** : ran away, ice-skating on a lake. Got found out, beaten and no food for 11 days as punishment
>   47. **9 years, 11 months old** : saw dogs being sold in a park, tried to buy one with own money, cousin told parents he stole the money
>   48. **10 years old** : made himself a cupcake as a birthday cake, accidental magic made a candle, uncle found out and threw him into his cupboard
>   49. **10 years, 3 months old** : chased around by aunt Marge’s dog. Almost bit in leg – nightmares for weeks
> 


“I hate this family” Pansy commented, when she had look at the parchment. “At least they can no longer hurt him!” Draco silently agreed, while Madam Pomfrey started healing his broken bone and finished up with Harry.


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have read all your comments, and I have realised that you want to know what happened to the Dursleys. So... here it is: The Aurors question Draco and everyone else.
> 
> Just one more thing here: I'm slightly evil so I have cut this chapter (also it suddenly got very long) and it's now a two-parter so you have to be patient.
> 
> Since I have given you updates every day now, I have to take a break (I haven’t been able to write anything! Well, except for this two-parter chapter, because I thought you were really liking them now instead of in 10 chapters). So, I think I won’t be posting anything for about 5 days, unless I feel the need to give you another chapter. But I’m quite tired now and I have a few things to figure out and research.
> 
> In order to give you a good story, I need to take a few days off. I hope you’re not mad at me for doing so, since I have given you quite a lot and I do believe that if you have continued reading until now... you like the way I’m writing and want to stay with the story.
> 
> Thank you very much for all your comments and your interest and we’ll see each other in a few days (after the update tomorrow)! <3

When Draco passed by the entrance of the castle to get to the dungeons, he saw something that made his blood freeze. Two official looking wizards and one equally as official looking witch stood there, arms crossed as they watched the students. Aurors. Their robes billowed in the wind from outside and made them look even more stunning than they already were. This was bad.

He really wanted to approach them and ask what they were doing there, however, he had a feeling he already knew the reason as to why they had come here. It had only been four days since the ‘incident’ and Draco knew full well what course the curse they had put on Harry’s relatives would have taken by now. It was not pretty.

Before Draco could turn away and walk down towards the dungeon, a familiar person approached them. It was none other than Hermione Granger. “Kingsley! Nice to meet you again! I heard you’re up for a promotion as Minister for Magic!”

Once of the wizards smiled and as he did, Draco realized that he wasn’t all that scary anymore. Still, the circumstances and the problem of Hermione knowing one of the Aurors there meant trouble. Almost certainly.

“You are very well informed, Hermione. And I am in fact about to get the promotion, however, I still have a job to do here” the Auror answered and nodded at her.

“Anything I can do to help? Get Professor McGonagall for example?” Hermione asked and her innocent smile proofed (apparently) that she had nothing to hide. However, Draco had grown to see through her mask of politeness. 

For her, politeness seemed to be what Slytherins took as neutrality. Draco had to admit that he was just slightly intrigued. He guessed that she too knew very well what they were here for but pretended to play along.

Kingsley chuckled and shook his head. “No worries, Hermione; Minerva knows we’re coming. We’re just checking the students here.”

The Gryffindor nodded sweetly and turned around. Draco saw her giving him a warning glance and he quickly – though not suspiciously – descended the stairs and hurried down the corridor towards the Slytherin Common Room. He needed to warn his friends. He already had an alibi, however, his friends needed to come up with something as well. The best thing would be if someone outside of their friend group could vouch for them...

However, the time was pressing and they had actually believed that they had been off the hook when no Aurors had arrived two days after the incident. Apparently, they had been too easily manipulated.

Draco opened the door quickly, checked the room and found it empty, except for Millicent reading some book in their secret hide-out spot.

“Mil, where are the others?” He approached her quickly and he felt himself tremble slightly from his adrenaline. 

Millicent looked up and frowned slightly. “Outside. Why?”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her with me. “Come, now!”

They made it through the door and he indeed found them all sitting there, laughing, talking and just doing something. Luckily, Draco knew that Ginny had offered to take a walk with Harry, so he was certainly entertained.

As he sat down next to Blaise, he had immediately all attention on him. “The Aurors are here!”

Pansy had been giggling about something, however, this statement cleared all emotions from her face. She stared at Draco in disbelieve and started cursing almost have a second later. Theodore narrowed his eyes as well and shook his head. Blaise and Millicent held their hands in front of their mouths and nobody seemed to be able to know what to say. Except for Pansy throwing curse words around.

After a few silent moments, Theodore was the one to break the silence. “Okay, so that’s not really surprising after what we did.”

“They will be questioning us” Blaise said and sighed. “I would bet everyone who came in contact with Harry that day will be questioned.”

Draco nodded. “You guys need to get an alibi, I do not want any of you going to Azkaban!”

Before they could discuss anything else, a second year Slytherin walked out the door and asked them to go outside the Common Room, where Severus and Professor McGonagall were apparently waiting. Draco felt his heart beat fasten. Could they come up with believable alibis in this short walk?

Well, everyone seemed a little on edge and trying their hardest to hide it, since they were unable to talk and once Draco opened the door, there wasn’t just Severus, but also the witch from before. She quickly counted them and nodded.

“Would you please follow me to the History of Magic classroom?” It wasn’t a question. If it had been a question, Draco would have probably said no and told her to wait for about ten minutes so they could get their stories straight. What now?

He was now thinking about ways to help his friends with his own alibi. Maybe Granger was happy with telling the Aurors that there was one more person on their table... The only problem was that Blaise made sure to sit in almost everyone’s view so that is wasn’t really possible for someone to have ignored someone else...

The walk to the History of Magic classroom was shorter than he had wanted and when they entered, the desks had been re-arranged. It looked as if there was a conference happening. This was a weird set-up to question people.

The man Hermione had talked to a few minutes before stood at the front, arms crossed and with a stern look on his face. He seemed to be the one in charge and also had a clear dominance which somehow made the room listen to what he would say – even if he hadn’t said anything yet.

They weren’t the only ones there: Luna Lovegood sat in a chair, Ginny next to her and even Longbottom placed himself on the other side of the table. He caught Pansy’s eye and smiled at her. Draco found that it was a rather nice and trustworthy smile – even though it hadn’t been for him.

As they sat down without any words – Pansy next to her boyfriend, Draco next to her and Blaise, Theodore and Millicent on the other side – the door opened again and Hermione walked in, next to Weasley, Finnigan and Padma Patil. The last two were really weird additions to their little group, Draco thought. He wondered why they were here, but decided not to say anything. Actually, none of the people present had been saying anything.

Now, the other Auror entered along with Severus and McGonagall. Kingsley nodded. “I believe that is everyone.”

Before he could continue, Draco turned to McGonagall. There was something far more important that he needed to discuss than whatever it was, the Aurors needed to know. “Headmistress, where’s Harry?” He should have been with Ginny, but the Gryffindor was now here and there was no sight of his ward...

McGonagall held up her hands and smiled. “Madam Pomfrey has offered to take care of him until this little discussion is finished.”

The Auror witch cleared her throat rather aggressively, which made Draco turn back to Kingsley. Not that he hadn’t already planned to. Normally, he would have probably ignored this stupid non-verbal command to do something.

Kingsley smiled and continued as if he didn’t care that Draco had interrupted him. “Some of you might know that Harry Potter lives with his relatives. I would like to ask you all some questions. What do you know about them?”

After the initial silence, Weasley was the first one to speak up. “They mentally abused him: They put bars at his window, so he couldn’t escape.”

“They hated him!” Hermione added and shrugged her shoulders.

Draco was actually about to scream loudly. And by the looks of it, Pansy wasn’t far behind. His relatives did more than just hating him and putting bars at his window! They physically broke him! They told him to work his arse off, gave him no validation at all through his childhood and once he was but a shell of a boy, his uncle abused his power... That had to be punished.

Kingsley looked at Draco and raised his eyebrows. It took everything Draco had to not freak out and tell him what an idiot he was for doing this investigation. “Well, I am his Magical Guardian and I have a list of everything that his relatives did to him. They broke a lot of his bones and he had to go without food for quite a few days.”

“Anything that would make you want to kill them?” the witch asked and smiled. Draco wondered whether or not she actually thought this was a good questioning style she had.

“A lot, to be honest.” It was best to stick with the truth... or some version of the truth. “However, since Harry already lived with them and is now basically over eighteen... what’s the reason to kill them now?”

This logic seemed to confuse the witch as she stopped talking for a few moments. The other wizard turned to everyone and started talking as well. “We have gathered all of you here, since you had the most recent contact to Harry James Potter. You all had reasons to do something to his relatives.”

Hermione held up her hand and smiled somewhat sheepishly. “Sir, we don’t even know what happened to his relatives!”

“Miss Granger” the Auror witch said as she turned to Hermione, completely ignoring her question. “We are aware of the fact that you have been brewing Polyjuice Potion as a Potions project.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, quite visibly. “Yes” she answered simply and placed a smile on her face. “And what does that have to do with the fact that someone hurt Harry’s relatives?”

The Auror clearly wasn’t used to someone talking back as she right out glared at Hermione. She continued, emphasising the beginning of sentence as if to show that she hadn’t been able to finish her speech: “ _However_ , the amount of ingredients missing from the cabinet as indicated by the Potions professor and your end result of the potion do not match up. Anything to say here?” Her question was basically a triumphant tone and Draco was actually about to punch her in the face – had she not been an Auror.

“I don’t want to admit this” Hermione said sheepishly, avoiding eye contact. Draco turned to look at her – as did everyone else. What was she doing? Did she really want to tell the Aurors that Draco had used it? Was she okay with him going to prison? It was her best friend’s relatives that hurt him? Maybe he should have said what had happened to him. If he had, she probably wouldn’t be okay with giving him up...

Thousands of thoughts raced through his head, when Hermione turned to Kingsley. “I took more, because I messed up the first batch! I’m usually so good in everything, but this... I just... I couldn’t do it the first time...”

Draco caught Weasley hiding a smirk while he rubbed his forehead. If the Aurors hadn’t been here, he would have gotten up to hug her. Hermione had _lied_ to the Aurors for him (and Harry of course).


	42. Chapter 42

The three Aurors in the History of Magic room clearly weren’t happy with the fact that nobody really seemed to take this seriously. The witch especially was taken aback by Hermione being so clever and Draco was sure she had somehow caught Weasley’s grin.

It was quiet for a few moments, where Draco really didn’t trust himself to look at everyone, since he was sure that two out of three Aurors were looking at him excessively. Maybe they thought that he was hurting Harry and that he wanted to hurt his relatives as well. The last part was definitely correct... 

“Kingsley, what proof is there that any of my students have been involved in this... thing you’re so keen on not revealing” McGonagall asked and smiled.

When Draco turned to look at her, he caught her smile as innocently as Hermione’s. Did all Gryffindors have this kind of smile? Innocent, though definitely knowing about...

Wait! Did the Headmistress know about what they did? He had been talking to Hermione and Weasley a little too loudly. It was Hogsmeade week-end; he had just assumed everyone was gone. And he had no idea how long she had been standing there... Oh she definitely knew something! However, she wasn't telling. What was that supposed to mean?

Kingsley nodded. “I would first like to hear where everyone has been. Mr. Malfoy, let’s start with you: What did you do Friday night?”

Draco swallowed quickly. He was a little too nervous, but he kept it together. “I studied for Ancient Runes with Hermione in the library. She’s better at it than I am and I do want to have a better mark there.”

Before the Aurors could ask Hermione whether or not that was true, she was already talking. “Oh, don’t sell yourself short, Draco. You understood quite a lot once we finished!”

“And when was that?” The other wizard asked.

Hermione frowned slightly. “Around eleven o’clock. Since we’re in eighth year we can stay as long as we want” she added while shrugging her shoulders.

Padma Patil, who had stayed quiet up until now, spoke up as well. “I actually saw them when I left to go back to my Common Room which was a quarter to ten.”

The other wizard actually seemed pissed that he couldn’t get him, though Draco wondered whether or not that was actually professional – actually he knew that it wasn’t professional. Kingsley gave him a warning glance and continued. However, he was interrupted before he could even get two words out.

“And...”

“Since we’re already talking about seeing people” Weasley started and turned to Kingsley. “I saw Neville, Parkinson and Greengrass walking in the rain when I went to look for Hermione around half past ten. I’m pretty sure Neville created this rain.”

Draco frowned and turned to look at Weasley. For everyone else this could have looked like he didn’t believe what he heard from this Gryffindor. In reality, he was completely blown away by Weasley _lying_ to get them off.

Pansy had been with them, there was no way he could have seen her as they had not hidden her and nobody had taken any more of Hermione’s Polyjuice Potion.

Weasley grimaced. “Not something I need to see again” he commented, apparently proving to the Aurors that Pansy had been here as well.

“You saw us?” Longbottom asked and rolled his eyes. “I was just testing our spells! And I’m glad I did since we had to make it rain in the next Charms lesson!”

Kingsley held up his hands to quiet them all again. “Thank you, Ronald. Mr. Nott, where have you been on Friday night?”

Draco was very much confused. Did he actually buy that? He must have, otherwise he wouldn’t have continued...

Theodore shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t really like to go out. I studied for the upcoming N.E.W.T.s. I’m trying to get as many Outstandings as possible. Right now, DADA is a little problematic for me.”

The witch narrowed her eyes again. “You studied by yourself?”

Theodore nodded, apparently willing to go this route. “I don’t like noise. In the library, there’s just too many people coming and going. We have a hide-out spot in the Slytherin Common Room where I can sit and study without being really caught up by who leaves and who comes. But I wasn’t completely alone. Millicent was there as well.”

“I was. And before you ask, I wrote a letter to my parents, which you can go and ask them. I sent the letter around midnight, which thinking back at it wasn’t really my best decision ever” Millicent said and even had an almost believable regretful expression on her face. Draco was sure that it was the opposite: she had told him it was the best decision she was going to do that night.

“We _will_ be looking into that” the witch commented and crossed her arms again.

Kingsley was just about to turn to Blaise, when Ginny spoke up. “Why do you only question the Slytherins? Harry’s our friend! We’ve been with him through thick and thin! The Slytherins only shortly realized how amazing Harry really is.”

“So, where were you?” the other Auror asked and raised his eyebrows.

Ginny smiled sweetly. “I was training on the Quidditch pitch. And if you don’t believe me, Luna was there as well and all of my team mates hated me for making them train in the dark.”

“It was beautiful! She lit up almost the whole pitch with wind resistant candles!” Luna said and had almost half closed eyes as if she could see it right now again.

Kingsley turned to Finnigan, while the other two Aurors seemed to slowly get desperate. Almost everyone actually had alibis and the only non-confirmed person was Theodore. However, it would have been weird if everyone had alibis. So this was perfectly normal. They hadn’t questioned Finnigan and Blaise yet. Everyone else was confirmed.

The Auror smiled at the Gryffindor. “And where were you?”

“Sir, I don’t even know why we’re being questioned as if something bad happened! I mean, yes I accidentally turned Harry into a baby, but what do his relatives have to do with us being at Hogwarts?” Finnigan asked.

Draco frowned. What kind of a monstrous sentence was that?! Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who thought like that, since the Aurors finally were going to tell them what had happened to the Dursleys, Harry’s relatives.

Kingsley sighed and shook his head. “Seamus, where were you? I will tell you what happened after we have everyone’s whereabouts.”

“I was at Hogwarts, playing chess with Ron in the Common Room. After he went to look for Hermione, I went to bed and waited for Neville. I talked to Dean about some Quidditch teams and Neville came back around... half past eleven and told me to go back to sleep, since he was just a dream. But he was making too much noise to be a dream” Finnigan said and smirked at Longbottom who rolled his eyes.

Now the only person, who hadn’t said anything, was Blaise. The other wizard turned to him and raised his eyebrows questioning. “Well” Blaise started and blushed slightly. “I was trying to get the nerves up and asking a girl out. But I... I messed up and... I was really frustrated with what I said and I accidentally punched a wall...”

This was absolutely not true. Well, the part about Blaise accidentally punching a wall was true, but not him trying to ask someone out. Draco had to admit he didn’t even know if Blaise fancied someone...

Nevertheless, he continued. “I went to the Hospital Wing around ten past eleven and... you can ask Madam Pomfrey, she wasn’t happy with me showing up that late. She also made me stay the night.”

Kingsley nodded and sighed. “It seems as if his relatives have been victims of a hate attack.”

“What happened?” Longbottom asked and frowned.

Since Kingsley seemed to remain silent, the other wizard started talking. “It’s a copying spell” he started. “You have to set an example, a person who’s the base of everything and the spell copies everything that happened to this person through the victim and gives it to said victim. It can also be influenced by how much will be taken into account and how much more pain you want to give them. Some wizards are also known to hurt themselves a little more or to have others hurt them so their victims hurt a little while longer...”

“Thank you, Auror Abram” Kingsley stopped him and he turned back to the group. “This is a very old spell, which is why you have been gathered here. Looking through the history of all you students gave us the student pool who has the interest and knowledge of performing such a spell.”

Draco stared at Kingsley, even though he could feel for a second that Hermione had been looking at him. The Dursley’s had no idea what had happened to them. It was years upon years of frustration and hurt that they had out of nowhere cast upon them. Draco was sure that it had killed them on the inside. Especially the walrus. Taking Harry’s life and everything he had went through as a base was justice for everything they had done! If they hadn’t been so bad towards him, nothing would have happened...

Yet, it had in their ears almost sounded like an explosion once they had cast the spell. Draco had known that instant that the man was probably gone. His mind had left through all the pain they had given him. It had been too much and this had been the only way he could have protected himself – not that it had worked. The woman as well, she had cried for hours, silent tears. Nobody would have helped them and once the neighbours had found them, the Muggle Healers were probably also unable to do something.

Hermione frowned. “And how have you figured out that someone took Harry as a base or this spell? Maybe it’s someone different?”

“They have his scar!” the witch said and she narrowed her eyes as if she believed Hermione was the one who should have known that.

Draco frowned. That was impossible... Well, at least with what he knew about the spell, it wasn’t possible. They didn’t give him the scar! Maybe the spell couldn’t figure out what they did and what others did to him.

Finnigan actually chuckled. “So you’re telling us that Harry’s relative is Voldemort?”

“Of course not!” Kingsley shook his head and there was hint of a smile. The war was not that far away to joke about it. Draco felt so himself. “It’s an old spell, Seamus. Maybe it has changed somehow and now it works differently. That’s why it’s a dangerous spell.”

“It reminds me of a voodoo doll” Hermione shrugged her shoulders.

Draco and actually most wizards frowned at her, unsure of how she knew about something of this dubious dark magic stuff.

Without missing a beat, Kingsley nodded. “The spell used is one the Ministry currently thinks about blacklisting... And after what we’ve seen, it definitely has the potential of being very harmful. Anyway, we’re done here.” He motioned them to leave the room, though turned to Draco and the professors. “A word, Mr. Malfoy? You may stay as well, Minerva and Severus.”

“Of course” Draco said, feeling the uneasy and worried glances form his friends, even though he smiled at them. “Maybe Harry likes to see you guys!”

They nodded, even though Pansy made sure to tell him she would be waiting outside. There was no way in hell, she was going to wait a minute longer for any information. Draco knew her well enough and nodded.

Once they were all gone – the two other Aurors as well, Kingsley started talking again. “Harry’s relatives have been placed in magical care; however, we believe that there is no hope for any of them. His uncle is but a vessel of himself and his aunt has had some serious trauma as well. Once Harry’s grown up, you might have to tell him what happened.”

Draco nodded. “I will make sure to do so, Sir.”

McGonagall frowned at Kingsley. “So what happens now with the investigation? I hope you see how none of my students have been involved in this?”

“I have in fact already checked all their alibis and I simply wanted to hear it from them. That was our most promising lead, so it might just end up as a cold case. You’re students will be fine, Minerva.”

With that, he released them all and Draco grabbed Pansy’s arm as he left the room, unable to believe that they had just gotten away with cursing Harry’s relatives. He was going to make sure to tell Harry exactly what they had done. He needed to know... once he was an adult again.


	43. Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being so nice ;)  
> I'm really happy I could take a week off and work on my story. The fact that I gave you the Auror investgation now, destroyed my planned chapters and in the end I needed to do some major remodeling of my story (but I have to say, it fits better where it is now). And now I'm back on track with everything. Updates will continue every other day :D

Draco sat in the dark Common Room. It was close to two a.m., the fire in the fire place was almost out and the wind had finally stopped shaking the windows towards their secret garden. The only sounds one could hear were the waves of the lake reaching the walls of the castle and once in a while a small crack from the wood in the dying embers.

Staring into the almost dark fire, Draco pulled his knees up and narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t go into his room. He just couldn’t.

Madam Pomfrey had said that at the end of the week he was going to have his memories back from his eleventh birthday. They had met that day... And he had probably made the worst impression ever. He had been a snob all throughout Hogwarts and he had hated Harry so much...

How could he ever forgive him for all he had done? He had made fun of his parent’s deaths. He had laughed over how easy his life must have been... Oh how stupid he had been! How utterly stupid. Especially with what he had learned a few weeks ago...

He also did not want to be faced with the option of his ward remembering things about him. _Bad_ things about him. So, he would rather stay out here, hope that Harry would... somehow remember good things about him too. He had been raising him, right? That was a good thing?

“I thought we might find you here, out of bed” a voice reached him and he turned around to see his friends standing there.

Pansy had a blanket in her arms, Theodore carried a tray full of hot chocolate and Millicent was bringing a Muggle TV out, while Blaise had his arms full with food and on top of that a few snacks. It warmed his heart to see his friends so caring and by his side, even though this was something he had to go through alone, pretty much.

Millicent wheeled the TV in front of them, while Blaise showed him the movies he had picked up from Muggle Studies – or most likely borrowed without asking. Draco was sure that was how Millicent had gotten the TV as well, though he was not going to ask. He chose a random movie and leaned back, while Pansy placed the blanket around him.

“You guys are crazy” Draco said and smiled at his best friend, leaning at her shoulder.

Pansy chuckled and put her arm around him. “That’s what friends are for, Dray.”

Theodore started just some movie – Draco didn’t much care and they all knew very well why. If was just some comedy horror movie and they watched for five minutes, until Blaise turned to Draco.

“So what keeps you up all night?” He frowned quickly and smiled apologetically. “You don’t need to bother answering, we all know.”

“You suck, Ze!” Draco rolled his eyes, though couldn’t keep himself from smirking while he did so. Besides Blaise asking stupid questions, it felt good being with them. They did know him pretty well.

Blaise chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “I know, but I just want you to know that whatever happens, we’ll be by your side!”

Draco nodded, facing the movie again, where the villain just snuck around the corner to surprise his prey. While she screamed, Draco answered Blaise’s not really question. “Yeah, I think Harry will be gone in the morning.”

Pansy turned to him and shook her head. “He won’t, though!”

If Pansy had wanted Draco or Blaise to agree, their answers were drowned out by Millicent who was speaking rather loudly. “Of course, he will! Just think: He wakes up in _Slytherin_ of all places! He’ll freak out and leave as soon as possible!”

Pansy shook her head rather aggressively. “Don’t say that! We have never done anything so he would think we’d be... I don’t know, evil or something.”

Theodore – finally done with all their talking through the movie – apparently decided to join their discussion as well. He turned around and looked at them seriously. “I don’t think it’s that, Pans. I think it’s about the fact he might get his memories back and we don’t know how much he remembers right now. So it might be only his birthday, or the first few months.”

Draco rubbed his forehead and groaned frustrated. “And that again doesn’t matter, because either way I have been an idiot towards him. We met on his birthday and I think when I talked about Slytherin he decided not to be in that house...”

“Okay... So what do you think happens tomorrow?” Blaise turned to movie down, since they had almost not been able to hear what the other had said through the frantic screaming on the screen.

Once again, Draco shrugged his shoulders. “After tomorrow he might be a Gryffindor again.”

Pansy widened her eyes. “And forget us? I don’t think so! We have been good parents!”

Her response got Draco to smile and there was even a hint of laughter in the air, though no one had laughed loudly. It was funny to hear Pansy talking about being a mother to a fellow student (who just so happened to be turned back into a baby by accident). However... Draco agreed. He also thought that they were good parents.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one, as Millicent grinned at her. “Pans, you have been an amazing mother, but... we’re still Slytherins.” She shrugged her shoulders as if there was nothing she could do against it. And yes, she was right: There was nothing they could do against it...

“Additionally, should he remember more, he _is_ a Gryffindor” Theodore once again jumped in with his logic. “I don’t know how McGonagall wants to handle that, but no other house has ever been allowed to stay in another Common Room and Dormitory for more than a day. If Harry goes back to Gryffindor, I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it.”

“But I’m his Magical Guardian! How am I supposed to be his guardian if I don’t know where he is?” Draco shook his head.

“There might be something else what could help you here, Dray” Pansy said slightly mysterious.

Draco frowned at her and shook his head unable to believe that there was in fact something he could potentially do! “What?”

“Well, Harry just got eleven years old. That would mean that...” Pansy stopped talking and turned to the TV where another girl screamed while the villain ran after her.

“Pansy, come on! What do you want to say?” Draco rolled his eyes.

“Nothing, Dray. I think I’m just clutching at every straw I might find. I really don’t want Harry to leave us Slytherins! For me, he belongs to us!” Pansy smiled weakly.

Blaise nodded enthusiastically. “I know! I feel the same! When I think about the Slytherin Common Room, I think about Harry lighting the mood and things like that.”

“Well, it might not happen, Ze.” Theodore rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I think what might happen is Harry freaking out over being in Slytherin, him racing up the Gryffindor Common Room and hiding there until he’s in his normal age again.”

“He cannot do that! I need him to go to Madam Pomfrey at least once a week! And he has Therapy sessions he needs to go to.” Draco threw his hands into the air. Slowly, he started to feel desperate. And he could feel his eyes water slightly. He did not want to put up his pureblood mask of neutrality, but he also didn’t want to start crying in front of his friends. He cleared his throat and got everything under control again.

Theodore smiled weakly. “Lucky for you, Dray, I’ve talked to Hermione about this and we have come to the conclusion that... should Harry decide to live there, she would be working with you. So, she would bring him to you for meals or when you have to go to Madam Pomfrey.”

“Great, I feel as if I’m going through a divorce and Harry’s my child and we’re discussing who gets him when and what we’re going to do.”

Pansy apparently couldn’t stop herself from chuckling. “If that happens, we have to spent even more time with him and make him like us!”

“Why? Because in two months he will remember you telling the students that we should give him to the Dark Lord and end the fighting before it even started?” Millicent offered and received a death glare from Draco’s best friend.

“Not only that, but sure, that wasn’t my best moment” she said, while shrugging her shoulders.

Draco sighed. “Well, I can’t spend more time with him since McGonagall told me I had to go back to classes once he’s eleven and Harry has to spend his time with me in my classes or with Hermione in DADA.”

It was quiet for a while, where everyone watched the TV. There were three police officers arriving and making some quite inappropriate jokes over the victims they had found in that house.

Finally, Theodore said what Draco had been thinking ever since they had arrived with the TV and the films. “How about, we just stop thinking and going through all these theoretical scenarios and concentrate on this movie again. We can’t change what’s about to happen. The least we can do is enjoy what happens right now and make the best of what’s about to come.”

“Wise words, Theo. Do you want these as stickers for your trunk, or...” Blaise was cut off by Theodore turning up the volume of the movie.

“Shut up and watch the movie!” He laughed.

And so the night was spent watching all the movies they had brought with them and almost everyone falling asleep in front of the Muggle device. Only Draco was awake to watch the last movie, remembering how Harry had sat next to him when they had watched his favourite one together. Would that ever happen again after today?


	44. Chapter 44

The bed was empty when Draco opened the door. It was made nicely and for a second Draco thought that his ward was in the shower, but there was nobody, no water running, and finally, he sat down on his bed. Defeated. 

How could it have been differently? They had discussed it last night. Harry had probably woken up and freaked out by where he was. Maybe he had raced out of the Common Room, where Draco had been sleeping and he had run up to the Gryffindor tower. How had he not heard a thing?!

Rubbing his head, Draco sighed and got up to change his clothes and get ready for the day. He needed to at least find him and see whether or not he was doing fine. However, he was with his Gryffindor friends, so he was probably doing very well. Maybe he was even laughing and joking just like they had done the last few months.

“Draco?”

He jerked up, for a second thinking it was Harry, when he saw Pansy standing in his doorway. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”

“Yes” Draco answered and turned back to his clothes, grabbing a new white shirt, before he headed down into the showers.

Pansy frowned slightly and held him back by his arm. “Are you okay?”

“Never better.” He glared at her, which made her shake her head.

“Draco, you don’t have to be angry at me, okay? It wasn’t me that did something!”

Sighing, Draco fell into a chair and tried his hardest to hide his tears in his hands. He really wanted to be strong, especially in front of Pansy. He didn’t need her pity! He just wanted to go on with his life as if nothing happened! As if Harry was still his normal obnoxious self and they were going to see each other in the Great Hall, being snarky and hateful.

A hand on his shoulder made him look up. Pansy was kneeling in front of him and smiled weakly. “I know, Dray. I know.”

He hadn’t even said anything. Of course she knew. She knew him better than he knew himself. He got up at the same time as she did and she put her arms around him, giving him comfort.

“You’re my best friend, Pans! And I love you!”

Pansy left and Draco took a quick shower. In the Common Room, he ignored all the questioning glances in his direction, simply followed his friends to the Great Hall. There was a small flame of hope that he might be able to see Harry there. He hated himself for being so dependent on this boy.

He had a life before Harry had come to live with him! There was going to be a time – in two months basically on the point – where he had to continue his life without him. With every step, this thought seemed to settle into his brain. Harry being around him was just for a few months.

How had he been so stupid and let his guard down? Yes, Harry meant a lot to him, but only when he was a child, running around, laughing with them. Now... now everything was different. He was a Gryffindor and he was going to stay where he grew up. And well, Draco was a Slytherin. He was more about preserving his life than jumping into a hole and running after Harry. Maybe the memories he had of raising Harry were all he would ever get...

That was okay.

Right? That was perfectly okay! He had never been friends with him, they had hated each other for years and in the end...

“Draco?”

A hand in front of his eyes brought him back to reality. Draco looked up to see Pansy frowning at him. They stood in front of the Great Hall and everyone else had already entered. Probably because Pansy told them to do so.

Draco sighed and nodded. “Let’s just get this year over, Pans. I can’t wait for us finally graduating!” And leaving this place, where he had just too many memories of either him hurting Harry or the little Gryffindor playing and joking around. Well, he didn’t say that last part our loud, but he was sure Pansy knew exactly what he thought.

She nodded sympathetically and grabbed his arm, when they walked into the Great Hall. “What should we do after Hogwarts, Dray? Do you think we can get an apartment together?”

Despite everything that had happened, Draco had to laugh. That was the best idea Pansy had ever had! “Yes! A thousand times yes, Pans! Where do you want to live, though?”

“Muggle London.” She winked at him, knowing exactly that none of their parents would have approved of their choices.

“I’m all in, Pans! You’re awesome!”

They sat down at their table and even though Draco didn’t really want to look, he quickly glances at the Gryffindor table. He had turned away so quickly, that he had only seen Longbottom and no one else. Rubbing his forehead, he decided to face his fears.

At the Gryffindor table sat a lot of people, but he was unable to find neither Hermione nor Weasley or Ginny. And well, Harry also wasn’t there.

“Draco, don’t turn to starve yourself over losing Harry” Theodore said. He was sitting on the opposite side of Draco and pushed some eggs and bacon closer to his plate.

Rolling his eyes, Draco huffed. “I’m not going to starve myself, Theodore. Honestly, stop worrying about me!”

“You know very well that will never happen, Draco” Blaise said and grabbed another toast.

Truth was, Draco couldn’t eat. He was neither hungry nor did he have any interest in eating anything. Still, he didn’t want to worry his friends, so he grabbed a fork full of bacon and little bit of sausage and eggs. It wasn’t even half of what he usually ate for breakfast, but he wasn’t even sure he could eat this.

If his friends had noticed – which he was sure they had – they didn’t say anything. He quickly ate his breakfast and got up. By the time he had finished his smaller breakfast; his friends had finished theirs as well. They made their way out of the Great Hall just to find Longbottom waiting outside.

“Hey guys” he smiled at them.

Pansy blushed immediately and she smiled at the Gryffindor. Draco frowned: There was definitely something going on... However, since Draco wasn’t sure whether or not Millicent, Theodore and Blaise knew about whatever was going on between Longbottom and Pansy, he didn’t say anything about how they were acting.

“Longbottom, hi.” Draco nodded. “Did Harry make it to the Gryffindor Common Room?”

“He did, yes” Longbottom confirmed. “I’m sorry, he really seemed confused when he walked in and Hermione thought it was maybe best to keep him in the Common Room for a few hours, she will be talking to you as soon as Harry feels better. McGonagall agreed with it as well...”

Draco thought that was stupid. _He was the Magical Guardian of Harry James Potter!_ That meant he should be the one deciding what was going to happen to Harry. Not Hermione, not McGonagall and no other person around! Yet, he nodded. This was a fight he was not going to win. He was only able to win this fight should Hermione not talk to him for a week and Madam Pomfrey were to find out. This woman could frighten the living daylight out of anybody if she wanted to! And luckily, she was on his side.

“Personally” Longbottom continued, “I think Hermione should have come to ask you, but I mean...” He shrugged as if to show that he had no idea what to do.

Realizing that his friends were about to say something, Draco decided to say something himself. “Don’t worry, mate. I’m just happy to know that Harry’s in a familiar place, where he feels safe. Maybe I can come and visit him tomorrow, should he still feel uncomfortable?”

“I’ll tell Hermione” Longbottom promised and smiled as he waved and walked back up the stairs.

Millicent sighed. “This day now officially sucks.”

“How so?” Blaise asked as they made their way to Potions, where Severus had hinted a few days prior that he was going to make them brew a very complicated and abstract potion – whatever that meant.

“Gryffindors all around us!” Millicent whispered and snickered, which made everyone chuckle, even Draco. In times like these, he was happy to have his friends to keep him sane.

The rest if the day went actually rather quiet. The potion wasn’t even that hard (for Draco at least), Finnigan almost blew up his potion again and he had apparently had a few flashbacks to the point where Severus had to tell him to leave and go to visit Madam Pomfrey for some Calming Draught and whatever else he would need.

Transfigurations had been a mess and in Herbology, he was happy that Longbottom placed himself next to him, so he could get some whispered help when something wasn’t really working. In the end, Draco had felt so empty. Not because the day was boring or because he hadn’t have a little fun with his friends, but because Harry hadn’t been there.

He missed his voice, his sarcasm and his jokes. They had done so many things together for the past few months! And now just like that he was gone...

Sighing, Draco wished his friends a nice night a little too early. They had looked at him really worried. However, he didn’t care. He just needed a little time to mourn the loss of a potential friend and his ward. His friends wished him a good night as well, Pansy looking at him very worriedly, even though he smiled at her reassuringly. Or at least he tried to.

In his room, he fell onto the bed, emotionally empty from trying to keep his emotionless mask up all the day. “It can only get better from here, right?” he said out loud, before he pulled the blanket over his head, wishing to disappear for a few days.

Surprisingly, he was actually able to fall asleep. Well, this sleep was then interrupted. A few hours later, Draco woke up from someone shaking his shoulder. He growled and was just about to snarl at his best friend who once again was waking him up way too early, when he caught sight of someone else.

“Draco, I’ve had a nightmare.”


	45. Chapter 45

“How did you get in here, Harry?” Draco asked and sat up in his bed, clearly confused. He wasn't so much confussed as to why his ward was here... Harry knew he could always come and talk to him. He was more confursed that he was still wearing his white shirt, though it was really crumpled and his trousers were not looking that nice as well. Not that he would have really cared: Harry was here! In his room!

And the Gryffindor also didn’t look any better. His hair was much more chaotic than ever and there was an unknown fear in his eyes. Even though his clothes looked normal, Draco knew that there was something wrong.

In Salazar’s name, how did he find out about the password? It had changed twice since he had gone and there was no way he would get in here again. Well, at least not with someone first telling him that. They were all unsure whether or not Harry would actually come back to them. And whoever had been in charge of changing the password apparently wanted to make sure that a Gryffindor wouldn’t be able to come back.

Well, Pansy thought he would come back, but even she thought it would take at least a week. Now it was about twenty four hours and he was standing in Draco’s room.

Harry looked at his feet. “Ze showed me the emergency entrance. When you don’t know the password...”

Draco was unsure of what to do. Harry looked so helpless and he wanted to help. Yet, how far was he allowed to go? When would Harry fall back into his own memories and believe that he was just a jerk – which admittedly he was – but he had changed. And which memories did he have already?

“Can I stay here?” Harry asked, lifting his eyes again.

“Sure bear and I...” Draco stopped and widened his eyes. Did Harry even accept the name which he was calling him? Or would he prefer to be called Harry? Or even Potter?

Before he could continue overthinking every action, Harry fell around his neck and started sobbing. It seemed that his sadness or whatever he was feeling had been too much. Totally taken by surprise, Draco didn’t really know what to do right now. However, he quickly caught himself again and pulled his ward into a tight hug, never again letting go.

“It’s okay, Harry. It’s going to be fine. I’m here for you, bear!”

Had he ever seen his former nemesis cry? He couldn't remember when or if he had ever seen that. Not even on the picture that showed how his godfather had died. He had looked empty. But there was no trace of tears. What did it mean that he was now crying? In his arms, no less?! Draco decided not to question what was happening and simply help his ward over the emotional burden he was carrying right now.

It took a while until Harry had stopped trembling and crying. Draco held him tight, wanting to give him as much comfort as he could. He could tell that Harry was absolutely exhausted, when he inhaled deeply and leaned at his shoulders.

The quiet that ensued was both oppressive and soothing. Draco rubbed his ward’s back and he had started rocking side to side, realizing that this movement calmed Harry down even further. If he had believed in his musical ability more, he probably had tried singing as well; however... he was better at the piano. And what he did already somehow worked.

Draco decided to give Harry another few minutes, until he started talking. “Why didn’t you tell your friends about your nightmare?”

Someone should have done something. Children were much more scared of nightmares. If you had a nightmare as an adult, yes it was still scary, but you could calm your own mind much more easily than a child.

Harry snuggled into Draco’s hug and rubbed his eyes. “I did tell Ron! But he just said I need to go back to sleep. It’s just a dream.” It was barely a whisper at the end.

“Oh bear, I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way.” That confirmed Draco’s theory. Weasley had probably thought that if he told Harry it was just a dream, his friend would calm down and go back to sleep. However, Draco had watched Harry’s nightmares closely; they were terrifying. And Harry was completely done after these dreams.

That was also happening right now, when he looked at Draco, pupils wide and wide eyes. He was still shaking slightly and his voice as well. “I’m s-scared!”

Draco couldn’t help himself, and wrapped his arms around him tighter. “So you walked through the dark, empty castle on your own at night?”

Harry nodded. “Yes. You said I can always come to you whenever something bad is happening. And I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Well, I meant what I’ve said, bear.” Draco smiled. He could tell that his ward was starting to become extremely tired and he got up, putting his ward in his bed. McGonagall had changed his room once Harry had gotten to the age of eleven. He had now basically a two room apartment. One room – the main one – was his own with his bed and desk and a door to his private bathroom, which he was really happy about. There was another door to Harry’s room now. Now that he wasn’t a toddler anymore, they had decided to give him some space.

McGonagall had wanted to create a sort of lobby joining the two rooms; however, it would have meant less control over what Harry would be doing. And well, Draco still thought that he needed to be close to his ward. And the door being on the opposite side of the entrance door made this possible.

“Thank you, Dray.” Draco heard when he had almost closed the door to his ward’s room. It was so soft and sleepy, that Draco couldn’t just let it go. He opened the door slightly again and glanced inside. Harry rolled onto his side, a content expression on his face and he sighed. Yes, this was where he belonged.

Smiling, Draco closed the door completely and went to bed again.

*

Draco woke up a little earlier than usual. He looked at the ceiling and heard the shower running. Yawning, he stretched in bed and sat up. It was exactly when the shower stopped and while Draco rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he heard someone singing.

Well, that someone was certainly Harry. He wasn’t a good singer, but it also wasn’t bad. Draco smirked and looked around the room for his own clothes. After a few moments, a knock at his door made him go and open it. In front of him stood Pansy and Theodore.

“Good morning, my friends” Draco smirked.

“You’re looking awfully chipper this morning” Theodore commented and raised his eyebrows. “What happened?”

“Harry?!” Even though Draco had tried to keep them from looking inside – in case Harry was someone who was showering without first getting his clothes ready – Pansy had been able to look into his room and clearly see his ward.

Draco turned to make sure he was wearing clothes (which he was) and then stepped aside so they could get a better look.

Harry looked up and smiled. “Hey Pans! Hi Theo!”

“You’re here? But... you were gone yesterday! Neville said you were probably going to stay in Gryffindor!” Theodore said and frowned.

Pansy wasn’t talking, as she stormed into the room and hugged Harry, who was only half a head shorter than she was. Both beamed at each other and Draco started to chuckle.

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he turned to Theodore. “I had a nightmare last night and went to Ron, but he wasn’t really helping. So I came here.”

“In the middle of the night?! What if Filch would have found you?” Theodore asked with wide eyes.

Draco smirked. “Guys, get out of here, I’m going to take a shower; you can talk to Harry outside!”

Harry grabbed Pansy’s hand and they walked out of the room, while Draco grinned and went to take a quick shower.

Inside the Common Room, Draco was able to hear his friends again. They were telling Harry some kind of weird dragon story. All of them were clearly making stuff up, as it made absolutely no sense what so ever. It had plot holes and things that were the exact opposite of what the other person said before. However, Harry seemed to love it, as he made up even weirder stories and laughed loudly about everything here.

“Breakfast, come on, guys!” Draco called out and walked towards the door, smirking. They were already a little late, since they had actually talked about quite a lot of things and Draco had only stood there listening to their discussions.

His friends and his ward followed quickly and they made it to the Great Hall in almost record time. Harry was extremely happy and he sprinted in front of them, which made Blaise start running after him trying to outdo him and then Pansy and in the end they all ran up the stairs.

When Draco reached the top, he stopped, panting, and leaned onto his knees. “Oh, I’m getting to old for this!”

Harry snorted as he walked next to him. “You’re eighteen! Are you telling me that you can’t deal with a few stairs?”

Before Draco could respond and tell him that he was never really one to enjoy sports, a quite familiar voice sounded and made everyone look at the entrance towards the Great Hall. There stood Weasley and Hermione, both looking rather mad. Well, Weasley looked mad, Hermione had an air of relief around her.

The person who was speaking, however, was Weasley: “Where the fuck did you go, Harry?! You can’t just go and leave us in the middle of the bloody night!”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I went to someone who actually cares about me.”

Everyone held their breaths and Draco widened his eyes as he looked at Harry. Did he just say that? He must have heard something else, right? No way had this actually happened!

Weasley scoffed. “Of course. Harry, you don’t even know what Malfoy did to you! I think it’s time that you come back to reality and...”

He wanted to keep talking, but his voice didn’t make a sound anymore. Draco frowned looking at his friends trying to find out who did something like that, but they all seemed as surprised as he was. Finally, he turned to the Gryffindors and saw Hermione shaking her head disapprovingly.

She looked at her boyfriend and sighed. “Ron, you’re being inconsiderate. If Harry feels more comfortable around Draco and his friends, we should be happy for him.” She looked at Draco and smiled, before she turned back to Weasley. “And I think it will do you good to be quiet for a while, at least until you have your anger under control again.”

As if this hadn’t been enough, Harry had apparently decided to add insult to injury: “At least Draco listens to me when I tell him I have a nightmare and I want someone to talk me through it.”

Weasley turned red and without any word said (or tried to say), he walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table.

Hermione walked closer and she seemed actually upset. “I’m so sorry, Harry! Are you okay?”

Draco wondered whether or not she made herself responsible for him walking back to Slytherin during the night, since it actually looked that way. Harry shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

“Don’t worry about me, Hermione. I think I’ve found my place.”

Before Draco even registered what the thing Harry said meant, Theodore pushed them all towards the Great Hall. “Stop talking, guys! Breakfast is almost over and we _need_ to get some food into you, Harry.”

“And then, we need to go to Madam Pomfrey and have her take a good look at you, maybe you don’t need any more nutrition potion” Pansy winked at Harry who suddenly got really excited.

“Yes! Please, they’re so bad!”

Millicent chuckled. “Pansy, come on, we don’t know that! You’re getting his hopes up!”

When Draco was being pulled into the room by his ward, he passed by Hermione and she smiled apologetically. “Anyway, thank you. And I’m really sorry about Ron’s behaviour.”

Pansy smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’re somewhat okay. But how can you stay around him?”

“Come on, Pans! Breakfast! Now!” Draco shook his head, not willing to let Pansy start a fight with a Gryffindor.


	46. Chapter 46

Draco was curious. Well, curious and slightly nervous. Why had McGonagall told them to come to her office? The parchment which some first year Slytherin had given him, was too formally written to just be some sort of check up on Harry.

Since Draco was slightly freaked out, Pansy and Theodore had chosen to accompany him and Harry. It was always best to have a few more people around who could help you, should anything happen. And if McGonagall had something to say against Harry living with the Slytherins, at least he wasn’t alone to challenge that. Nobody wanted to be against Pansy and with Theodore’s knowledge that could very well rival Hermione’s, Draco was sure he’d win the fight.

That was, if there was a fight happening. And if not... he was a Slytherin and therefore prepared for anything. These were the rules, or rather instincts.

In the Headmistresses office, they encountered both Severus and Hooch, who was named temporary Gryffindor Head of House after the last DADA professor had taken flight. Shortly after they had closed the office door, Flitwick and Sprout entered as well. Draco frowned slightly, but didn’t show any kind of emotion, knowing very well that Harry was watching him closely to know how he should react. All Head of Houses present? That should mean something...

“Thank you for coming so quickly” McGonagall said and smiled. It was somehow unnerving, even though she clearly tried not to make it look like that. Draco didn’t say anything, simply inclined his head slightly.

McGonagall knew her pureblood behaviour well, so Draco didn’t feel bad for not showing her more respect. It was all he could do given the weird circumstances. The other professors turned to McGonagall again.

She grabbed a single piece of parchment lying on her desk and handed it to Draco. While she did that, she explained what was happening. “We are in a rather unfortunate situation, Mr. Malfoy.”

Draco flinched slightly. Again with the ‘mister’. How he hated this word coming from the headmistress! His friends also didn’t seem to be happy with the situation, as he saw Pansy cross her arms over her chest and Theodore raised his eyebrows a little bit.

“Since Potter here has recently passed his eleventh birthday, he was once again recorded in the Book for Admittance. This means that he has to get through the Sorting Ceremony. Again.” She sighed and looked at Harry.

Looking at his ward now as well, Draco found him chewing on his lower lip, watching the Hat which was placed on the chair a little to the side of the Headmistress. He didn’t seem scared; in fact he seemed to be deep in thought. Whatever was going through his head apparently wasn’t bad at all.

“So what does that mean if the Hat places him in Gryffindor?” Theodore asked and raised his eyebrows. This time even more.

Hooch started speaking: “That would mean young Harry Potter would live in Gryffindor until he has reached his actual age again.”

Draco shook his head. “But I’m his Magical Guardian!”

“We would give you a room off to the side of the Common Room, where you could live” was McGonagall’s answer.

Well, Draco was floored. His final year living with his friends and now... he would have to live in Gryffindor? They hated him! Well, he had made up with some of them, Hermione in person, but he had never intended on being best friends with any of these Lions!

“The same would happen should the Hat choose Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, however, we do believe that it will be the same house. It’s just a courtesy to the Book of Acceptance and the Sorting Ceremony” the Headmistress continued as she smiled at him.

Pansy seemed to have none of it. “So, we just have to lose Draco to any other house?! How the fuck is that fair?”

“Language, Parkinson” Severus reminded her. However, he was nice enough not to take any house points away... from his own house.

“I understand your concern, Miss Parkinson, however...” McGonagall started. Draco could Pansy about to say something against that and actually silenced her with a warning glance. She seemed to catch on and simply growled something. All the while, McGonagall continued: “...we have to do it this way. It’s about giving young Harry Potter a place to grow up.”

Theodore rubbed his forehead. “Alright, what would happen should the Hat choose Slytherin?”

Draco could tell that everyone in this room thought it was impossible; yet... it was Harry James Potter. _Everything_ was possible with this boy! And in his heart, Draco was really hoping that it would end up being Slytherin.

McGonagall smiled at him. “We resume the status quo.”

Harry had been quiet since the beginning; however, before Draco could once again say that this thing was absolutely stupid, he finally spoke up. “I’ll do it.” It sounded so determined that Draco's blood froze.

“What? No, you’re not!” Draco turned to his ward who shrugged his shoulders as if this wasn’t even that bad. 

Well, Draco wasn’t ready to give up his time spent in the Slytherin Common Room! They had done something there! He liked it there and they had everything... soothing water on the windows, a secret beautiful garden which was only going to get nicer once the actual spring was coming... His friends were there for Merlin’s sake! Did Harry really think that Draco was okay following him to another house?!

“Mr. Malfoy, it’s out of all our hands. The Book of Admittance needs it to happen and so does the Hat” McGonagall smiled apologetically, but Draco didn’t want to hear any of it.

When Harry walked towards the chair, Theodore had placed both his hands on Draco’s arms, keeping him from holding back Harry. Pansy also stood half in his way towards his ward who reached the chair and sat down while McGonagall held the Hat up.

Once Harry was seated, she placed the Hat on his head and his eyes vanished under it. Draco would have slumped in Theodore’s arms, if it weren’t for all the Head of Houses present. So, he pulled himself together, put on his Slytherin pureblood mask of neutrality and hoped for some unforeseen reason which would make the Hat choose... Slytherin.

It took nearly a full minute, until the Hat spoke up. “ _Slytherin_.” It wasn’t more than a whisper and everyone inside the room held their breath.

Draco wasn’t sure he hadn’t imagined it, but once McGonagall removed the Hat and a lopsided grinning Harry walked over to them, it was clear that his ward knew more.

“Alrecht” McGonagall’s Scottish accent came through, as she was clearly trying to process what just happened. “I believe that... confirms it then? Potter, you may stay in Slytherin where you are currently, I’ll send the house elves to change the crest on your school uniform and then Professor Snape will be talking to you and Malfoy.”

As they left the office, Theodore turned to Harry who was grinning from ear to ear. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

Draco suddenly stopped, remembering the discussion he had with Remus a few months ago. The discussion where Harry had apparently written his godfather telling him he thought he was a bad person, since... “Wait! The Hat already considered Slytherin for you, didn’t it?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and smirked. “I just told it that today I wouldn’t be telling it what to do. If the Hat thinks Gryffindor or Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff was better, okay. If it thinks I should be Slytherin... That’s fine as well.”

“You are an awesome Slytherin prince now, Harry!” Pansy called out and laughed loudly as they made their way back down to the dungeon.

Draco was absolutely beaming over not having to change his house and he was happy his ward seemed to have found a place that made him feel at home. Otherwise, he would have definitely pleaded with the Hat to put him back into Gryffindor. Yet, he chose Slytherin. Apparently, wonders did exist.

After a quick stop in the Slytherin Common Room, where somehow the news had already travelled to and everyone was celebrating their newest house member, they marched over to Severus’ office.

The door was already open, and when Draco and Harry entered, Severus looked up from his desk. There was the absolutely smallest smile on his lips and Draco was extremely confused. How was his godfather now happy to welcome him into his house? If that would have happened eight years prior, he would have probably jumped from a cliff or something.

“Harry, welcome to Slytherin” Severus welcomed him. Draco caught a small smile on his ward’s face now as well. These two were two of the same. Both somehow unsure of how to be around each other, but still somewhat comfortable there. Maybe he needed to help them along, sometime.

“Thank you, Sir” Harry answered politely.

Severus nodded. “Should you have any problems, you can always come here. However, I do believe that Draco and any other eighth year are surely there to help you before I am. Still, if there is anything happening, you can always come and knock.”

Draco was slightly confused that Severus wasn’t telling Harry all the rules there were. When they had been in their first year, they had heard quite a few house rules...

As if Severus had read his mind – which he probably was – he smiled at Draco and then turned to Harry again. “I will see you here in my office once you’re in your normal age range again. Until then, you’ll have to listen to any rules Draco sets for you. I hope you understand that he’s your Magical Guardian.”

Harry nodded once by politely inclining his head. “Thank you.”

“Someone taught you manners” Severus commented and chuckled, before copying the action as a sign of mutual respect. “Welcome to Slytherin, Harry Potter.”


	47. Chapter 47

“Draco, what is this?” Harry pointed at Draco’s neck and when he looked down, he saw the end of... _the_ scar. He quickly pulled the jumper higher, so it was hiding under the fabric again.

“Well” Draco said frowning. They sat outside in the garden on a particularly warm day. Even though February was almost done, the sun was shining and warming the whole earth incredibly. Harry’s thousand snow men had almost lost their heads by now and they looked like sad memories of a beautiful winter.

How was he supposed to tell what had happened? He had never really dealt with what had happened. He had never really forgiven Harry for what he had done. For Merlin’s sake, he could have died!

Or maybe... Maybe he had forgiven Harry the moment he had turned to a baby and he had been chosen to be his Magical Guardian. Frankly, he had no resentment left, so somehow he must have lost it on the way...

If he thought about that, he was actually rather surprised that he was so okay with being around the Gryffindor. And also, Pansy and Theodore who both knew what had happened in that room. He hadn’t told Gregory or Goyle why he hadn’t met them later that night.

“Well” Draco repeated, still unsure of what to say. “That was a...” He couldn’t say the truth. For some reason he didn’t want Harry to know that he had done this. What good would it do, honestly? “It was an evil horseman that I fought with my friends. And he almost got me and left this scar.”

Harry widened his eyes. “Did you win?”

 _Did_ he win? Well, no. He wasn’t sure who won in that moment, probably no one. “Well... he’s not here right now, is he?”

“You are awesome!” Harry whispered with wide eyes.

Draco chuckled. “Thank you, bear.” He wanted to add something else, when Harry interrupted him rather quickly.

“Why didn’t Madam Pomfrey patch it?” he wondered out loud.

“I don’t know.” Draco said and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “It’s a magical scar, you can’t fix those.”

Harry frowned. “Do I have that as well?”

Draco looked at his ward and frowned. “What do you mean, bear?”

Pointing to his face, where the scar of a lightning bolt was rather prominent. At least, when you concentrated on it. Draco got up and walked to the blanked, where Harry was currently sitting on and looking rather serious and slightly scared. He sat down and patted his ward on his back.

“Yes. Your scar is magical as well. It can’t just be removed.”

“I don’t like it.”

Draco smiled weakly. “I know, bear, I know. Maybe we can find some spell that would conceal it? But let me tell you something: I like this scar on you. It makes you unique. It shows your beautiful soul. You are one in a million.”

Harry frowned and chewed on his lower lip, before he looked at Draco rather hopefully. “I am?”

“You sure are!”

Smiling, Harry nodded and crossed his legs. “Draco, there’s something I don’t understand: I have a lot of memories and they... they’re not good. About you. But you’re so different! How can you be so... evil and now you’re the best person I know?”

Well, shit. Where was Pansy when you needed her for a good story telling and explanation?! And why didn’t he remember earlier? Maybe he had remembered but he didn’t want to freak out anybody. Looking around, Draco only found some smaller Slytherins who all were not really what he needed right now.

And so, he turned back to his ward who was looking at him rather expectantly. “Okay” Draco sighed. “You have every right to know, bear. I was very angry when I was younger. I hated you, because you didn’t want to be my friend. And I... I wanted to make you pay. I’m really sorry, Harry.”

“Wait...” Harry’s eyes widened and he frowned. “How old am I really?”

“We’re about the same age” Draco answered, which made Harry laugh loudly.

“That’s cool!”

Draco chuckled and shook his head. “So, in order to keep it short, Harry: In being your Magical Guardian, I hope to get a second chance with being your friend. And speaking of Magical Guardian: We figured out that your relatives weren’t nice to you. That’s why we go to Madam Pomfrey. She checks whether or not everything’s okay with your body and whether or not you can grow up properly.”

Harry widened his eyes in either shock or surprise, Draco couldn’t really decipher his expression. After a few quiet moments, he turned back to his guardian. “So, my family wasn’t good? And that’s why I’m here and not with my mum and dad?”

“Well” Draco wet his lips and narrowed his eyes. How was he supposed to tell him what happened?! “You see... your... parents... they...”

Harry tilted his head slightly and nodded. “They died. I know.”

“What. How... How did you know?” Did he remember something from his old childhood? It was really confusing to find out what Harry did remember and what he hadn’t yet figured out.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry sighed. “Well, yeah. Some random wizard came up to me when I was really young, and he thanked me. I also know that Uncle Vernon was about to kill him. I do remember Hagrid telling me how my parents died. My aunt and uncle said they died in a car accident.” He stopped and rubbed his forehead, before he looked back at Draco. “I don’t remember my parents at all. Do you know if they... did they like me?”

“Of course, they did! Everyone likes you, Harry! I’m sure they loved you very much. They were very brave, fighting for your life” Draco explained and placed an arm around his ward. Harry snuggled into it and nodded.

Draco decided to continue, but watching his ward carefully. Should there be any sign of discomfort, he was going to stop this thing immediately. “That bad man, he wanted to kill you too. But you were stronger than he was and when he pointed his wand at you and said the spell, it failed. It scarred you and made that bad man lose his body.”

“He’s a ghost now?” Harry asked breathless.

Shaking his head, Draco smiled weakly. “Right now, he’s dead. So you’re safe again, okay?”

Harry nodded weakly. “Thank you, Dray.”

“What for?”

“For being honest with me!” Harry said and got up running towards Theodore and Pansy who just entered the garden. All along, Draco felt slightly bad for having lied to him for his own scar. However, he just couldn’t tell him the truth, could he?!

Looking over to Pansy, she looked a little flustered. “Pans, are you okay?” Draco asked, walking over to them as well.

Pansy shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and shook her head. She sat down, placing her satchel next to her and getting out something to work on, as if she wanted to pretend that Draco was not important to her. “Everything’s fine, Dray!”

“It is?” Draco asked and glanced at Theodore who was grinning from ear to ear, even though he was play fighting with Harry. “So, who’s got your interest, darling?”

His best friend glared at him. Even though she continuously used ‘darling’ for everyone she liked, nobody was actually allowed to use it on her. It would mean dead people. However, Draco was sure that getting her angry was the fastest way to actually get her talking.

“Nobody, Draco! And shut up now, I’m not willing to talk about it.”

Draco laughed outright. “Pansy, holy Salazar’s Snake, you’ve got it bad! Who is it, come on!” It was more than likely Longbottom. They both knew it. Draco just wanted her to finally say it. And he needed some kind of confirmation.

Pansy simply continued glaring at him, all the while, Draco suddenly had an epiphany, which proved his point. He widened his eyes and laughed disbelieving that he hadn’t seen it earlier. “Merlin’s beard, Pans! You were gone a few days ago!”

“Yeah, and?” she rolled her eyes, still annoyed.

Draco gave a lopsided grin. “Oh I don’t know. Longbottom said he had a date that...”

Pansy held her hand on Draco’s mouth and shook her head quickly. “Don’t you dare!” she hissed and continued glaring at him.

“But it’s true, right?” Draco asked, when he managed to get her hand off of his mouth. She rolled her eyes and huffed, heading back inside the Common Room. That was a clear _Yes_.

Draco threw a quick glance at his ward and saw him happily play fight with Theodore while the stronger man pretended to be so weak that Harry would continuously win. And so, Draco followed Pansy, not willing to leave it there – they were friends. And from the looks of it, she was rather angry at him. He found her in her room, angrily going through her homework.

“Pans, what’s going on?”

Pansy jerked up and glared at Draco. “Nothing!”

“Come on, Pans! We tell each other everything!” Draco closed the door behind him, casting an invisible sound barrier. “I know something’s not right. Tell me.”

Pansy huffed again and crossed her arms. “Okay, we had a date, it was nice. Still, I don’t date Gryffindors.”

“But you already did.” Draco frowned. “What’s really going on?”

His best friend glared at her homework essay from Astrology and groaned. “I heard some Gryffindors talking. He was in this group: they said how Slytherin’s okay now, but how we could never be normal. They said we could never find happiness and love and even like our lives!”

Draco narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “Did you hear Longbottom say something?”

“No, but he was in this group and...”

“Then how do you know he thinks the same? Maybe he just didn’t say anything, because these were his friends and he didn’t want to attack them?” Draco suddenly frowned. What had his life come to?! Was he seriously defending a Gryffindor right now? What had happened to his beautifully controlled world?!

Pansy sniffed and shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t stay until the end. It was enough hearing what they were talking about...”

“Pansy” Draco chuckled and sat down on the seat next to hers, pulling her into a hug. He smiled at her as he pushed some strains of hair out of her face. “You are already in too deep! Do you want me to go and talk to him? Harry has to go to his therapy session in fifteen minutes; I could go and try to find your potential boyfriend...”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Pansy glared again. “But that would be very nice of you” she added sheepishly.

Draco smiled. “Okay, I’ll be back in about an hour and thirty minutes, love. See you then and try to eat something, you lovesick Snake!”

“Eating is overrated” Pansy rolled her eyes.

“If Harry hears that, he’s going to take you by your word. And I’ll have you killed before I could tell you what your boyfriend said.”

Draco smirked as he walked back into the garden, where Theodore was calling for help, as Harry was in top of him, fighting his hardest to stay there. Without any problems, Draco pulled Harry up and over his shoulders – that young man was getting heavier by the hour! – and laughed.

“We have an appointment, soldier Harry!” Draco said while he let him back onto the ground. His little laughing bear grinned and nodded, before running full speed at Theodore, who out of actual surprise screamed rather loudly and jumped to the side.

“Now we can go, Dray!” Harry laughed and followed his Magical Guardian through the Slytherin Common Room to the Healer’s quarters.


	48. Chapter 48

Well then, time to go and hunt one specific Gryffindor. Draco quickly glanced into the Hospital Wing, though there was absolutely no one inside. “What a surprise” he muttered as he made his way to the library. Most Gryffindors spent their free time in the library studying things for their N.E.W.T.s. How depressing.

Draco wasn’t even sure he wanted to do his N.E.W.T.s. What were they even for? A former Death Eater couldn’t do any of the jobs he had wanted to do and well, what else was there except working in the Ministry, being employed by Hogwarts and writing for a magical newspaper?! None of these things sounded interesting to Draco.

Finally, Draco reached the library and after checking the room, he shrugged and walked towards the door again. He jerked and did a double-take at the back table. “What a boring hunt” Draco said to himself and sighed. Finding the person you were looking for in the second place (actually the first once, since he was just curious who would be in the Hospital Wing) was just... unexciting.

Draco approached the table where Hermione, Weasley, Ginny and Luna sat and was just about to turn to Longbottom, when Hermione saw him and smiled. “Hey Draco, nice to see you here. Did you want to study with us?”

Taken slightly by surprise, Draco frowned. “You would be okay with that?” While asking, he glanced over to Weasley, who surprisingly seemed rather calm. Something had happened and changed something. That seemed to be clear. However, Draco wasn’t sure what had changed.

“Of course” Luna turned to look at him and her huge grin made Draco chuckled slightly.

“Thank you. I’m actually here to talk to...” Before he could finish what he had wanted to say, Weasley interrupted him.

“There’s a rumour floating around Hogwarts that Harry’s a Slytherin now?” he asked rather quietly.

Draco turned to look at him. There actually seemed to be no resentment left and Draco wondered what happened. He was pretty sure that Hermione had something to do with it. Or maybe even Longbottom, should he have talked to Weasley about his somewhat secret potential relationship with Pansy. A Slytherin.

After the careful evaluation, Draco finally nodded. “He is. Don’t worry, we don’t want to... take him away from his friends or whatever. We just want him to have a nice and happy childhood. And you can ask him or Pansy or Theodore, I didn’t want him to go through the Sorting Ceremony again. He wanted to do it on his own accord.”

“I believe you” Weasley said. He seemed lost in thought as he said that though and Draco wasn’t sure whether or not he had actually imagined it or it had actually happened. Whatever it was... it was a small wonder.

He once again turned to everyone else. “You would be okay with me working here with you?” He wanted to ask what they were studying, when he saw a lot of different books lying around the table with all kinds of different topics. It just seemed as if they all were studying whatever they needed or wanted.

“Draco, stop pressuring yourself into this... role you’ve been playing for the past seven years” Ginny said while rolling her eyes. “The war’s over, Hogwarts wants to be open for everyone and every house. So, we absolutely do not care that you’re in Slytherin _that Harry’s in Slytherin_. If we ignore the pureblood past you’ve had, you’re actually an okay person to be around.”

Draco stood there dumbfounded. He had absolutely not the right words to respond to that. Not in a million years. “I... Thank you, Ginny.”

The redhead grinned and shrugged her shoulders. She turned back to her book about Herbology while Luna crossed her legs, sitting Indian style on the chair, and the others on the table turned back to Draco.

“Right. Longbottom, a talk please” Draco said as he composed himself again. What Ginny said and how everyone seemed to be genuinely okay with him around them and especially with Harry in Slytherin, meant more to him that he wanted to admit. Out loud that was.

Longbottom looked up, smiled and nodded. “Sure.”

“Alone?”

Getting up, Longbottom excused himself, while Ginny looked up from her books. “If you hurt him, we’ll hunt you down, wherever you are! I don’t care what I’ve just said, I mean it.”

Draco grinned and nodded. That seemed to be the old Gryffindors back in the game. “We’re meeting for dinner in the Great Hall again.”

Ginny smirked. “Okay, see you then. Neville, tell us how it goes!”

The other Gryffindor rolled his eyes and shook his head. They walked to the other side of the library, where small one student work stations had been built into the wall. You were basically invisible there and Draco quickly got rid of the table so they both had some space in there.

“So, what would you like to talk about?” Longbottom asked.

“Pansy.”

The Gryffindor looked at him as if he was assessing whether or not he was being honest or if he had anything else going on. He finally seemed to come to a conclusion and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m a little confused of how fast she came out with this. We said that both of us didn’t want our friends to know, since it is a Gryffindor and a Slytherin. And we also didn’t know how far we’d go, so... How come you know?” he asked and frowned.

Draco narrowed his eyes. They were taking it slow. That was at least a good sign – Pansy wasn’t lost entirely. “Well, she heard you talk to some people today about how Slytherin’s are messed up and...”

Longbottom interrupted him and rolled his eyes. “Oh that. Yes, they were idiot sixth years. I tried to make them see that house unity is exactly the opposite, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t understand. Not even when Hermione came over and tried telling them that the Hat had thought of putting her into Slytherin.” The Gryffindor shrugged his shoulders, as if that wasn't news to him.

To Draco however, that was completely new. A Muggle? She could have been a Slytherin? That would have destroyed all their hard worked and dearly held rituals. In a good way... Sighing, Draco shook his head.

“Well, Pansy heard that and she believes you were talking badly about her and Slytherin in general. But I think it hurt her more that you thought she couldn’t turn her life around” Draco explained.

Longbottom smirked. “I mean, she did want to give Harry to Voldemort, but... we talked a lot and I...”, he flushed a little and shrugged his shoulders, still trying to be nonchalant, but epically failing, “I like talking with her. So, I would like to meet up again, but she’s not reacting to any of my messages... Could you maybe tell her about the meeting?”

Draco looked at Longbottom, while a grin spread across his face. “Longbottom, what you don’t realize is that if you tell me where and when the next date is, I will make sure to be there as well. I might bring some more people and we will be checking on you two the whole time.” He smirked. “Do you still want to tell me about...”

“No, thank you” the Gryffindor chuckled. “Could you just tell her that I don’t think of Slytherins that way and that I’d like to see her again?”

“That I can do without any problems” Draco answered and got up.

The other man held him back and smiled. “Hey Draco, since we might get to know each other a little better, do you mind calling me Neville? I’m not really a fan of my last name.”

Draco raised his eyebrows, but grinned. “I can do that, L... Neville. But I will continue calling Weasley that way, so if he complains to you about why I’m calling you by your first name... You’ll have to live with that.”

Lo... Neville chuckled. “And what exactly is your problem with Ron?”

“I don’t know. He’s an idiot, I guess. And he’s just easily irritated and I like to play with that.”

Draco left the library again, way too early to get Harry from his healer session, so he walked back into the dungeons, looking for Pansy. Inside the Common Room, almost everyone sat around a community game and they were loudly laughing, playing and discussing different topics.

His friends sat behind the book cases, well Theodore, Blaise and Millicent were. Theodore had a few novels next to him and he seemed to try and figure out which he wanted to read. Draco wondered how he found time to read other things except school notes. Blaise and Millicent were discussing something from Potions, which Draco had not bothered to figure out. He waved at them, before heading to Pansy’s room. In fact, he found her there, lying on her bed, a pillow on her chest and a somewhat sad expression on her face.

“Wipe that mopey expression from your face, Pans. I’ve talked to your lovely Neville Longbottom and I found out... I think he actually really likes you! I cannot believe how something like that could have happened?!”

Pansy sat up and glared at Draco who sighed and closed the door behind him. “Come on, Pans. I’m just joking. But I did actually talk to your man and he seems genuinely surprised why you wouldn’t talk to him anymore. He also told me to tell you that he would like to meet you again.”

“Did he also tell you when and where? And will you be there to make it a disaster?” Pansy growled.

Draco chuckled and shook his head. “You know, I was nice. Neville wanted to tell me, but I explained our highest Slytherin rule and he stopped wanting to tell me any details. You’re welcome.”

Pansy threw her feet over the edge of the bed. “Why did you do that?” She frowned and explained what she meant. “I don’t want to hear that you did it because you felt bad for me or because that’s what best friends do. Why did you do it?”

Frowning, Draco sat down next to her and narrowed his eyes. “I guess... I guess I did it because I wanted to see you happy. You’re my best friend, Pansy, you deserve to be happy. And from what I could gather, Neville seems to be quite smitten with you. And you with him.”

With that, Pansy blushed and shrugged her shoulders.

Draco chuckled. “So, how long has this been going on?”

“Last night was our second date” she shrugged her shoulders and blushed even deeper, which made Draco grin slightly. “I hate you, Draco!”

“I hate you too, you love-sick snake!”

“Get out!” Pansy called out and pointed to the door.

Draco laughed and got up. “I have to get Harry, so I’ll leave now anyway. See you later, Pans.”


	49. Chapter 49

A few days later, three Slytherins took a small break from Hogwarts and apparated to a small house outside London. The room Draco, Pansy and Harry were led into by a quite old looking House Elf was huge. It was painted in quite colourful Moroccan colours and the wooden table and chairs looked ancient. The only newer thing was the research parchment and laboratory in the corner. Otherwise it looked rather happy and old.

Before Draco could have more time looking around, the door opened and a younger woman walked into the room. She was probably only two or three years older than they were. Her clothes were as colourful and happy looking as the walls and with her slightly darker skin colour, she looked absolutely stunning.

How such a young woman was the leading expert in memory related things had come as a surprise to Draco, then again, they all were leading experts in some areas. And maybe her parents had seen her gift and kept helping her to grow to such heights. Draco was certainly not going to question it. 

“Good evening, Miss Parkinson!” She smiled and bowed slightly. “I am very glad we were finally able to find a day and time where we could meet! So, you must be Mr. Malfoy and this fine young gentleman is Mr. Potter?”

Harry nodded sheepishly and stepped behind Draco’s back. He then shyly answered: “Hello. I’m Harry James Potter.”

The woman smiled and nodded. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Potter. I have heard amazing things about you!”

Draco frowned, about to intervene, when Harry was already answering. “You have? What have you heard?” He was already not hiding behind Draco anymore. Well, only a little. This woman certainly had her way with children.

“I heard you could draw amazing pictures! I’m sure your artistic talent will bring you very far! You could be famous!”

Harry laughed and showed everything from himself. “I’m already famous!”

Draco shook his head, slightly grinning. Pansy was the one to speak up next. She chuckled and greeted the woman. “Good evening, Miss Soames, it’s also nice to finally meet you!”

Miss Soames held up her hands in mocked offence and sighed. “Please, call me Charlie. Miss Soames is my mother-in-law and she’s a beast!” She showed them a lopsided grin and held her finger at her lips as if she was telling them a secret. “Which I’m not supposed to say, so you haven’t heard anything.”

“But Charlie is boy’s name.” Harry looked slightly confused.

“Harry!” Draco turned to look at him and shook his head. “Names are names!” He was trying his hardest not to laugh over his ward’s blunt statement. He didn’t quite manage that, however, Miss Soames aka Charlie was laughing now as well.

She winked at Harry. “Oh no, don’t you worry. My mother named me Charlene Genevieve, but what kind of a name is that? So I’ve been calling myself Charlie ever since I can remember.”

“I like that!” Harry grinned when he turned to Draco. “Can I change my name as well?”

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “I suppose. But right now, we have other things to discuss, bear.” He smiled and motioned towards Charlie.

Pansy took this as an invitation and turned to Charlie as well. “Yes, have you been able to read the letter I’ve sent you concerning Harry?”

“Of course, Miss Parkinson!” Charlie was about to continue, when she was interrupted by Pansy.

“Please, if we call you Charlie, my name is Pansy.”

Draco quickly added: “And I’m Draco.”

“Very well.” Charlie smirked. “I’ve been able to read all the information and I believe it is possible to retrieve his memories. All of them.” 

That was amazing news! Harry could get all his memories back and he wouldn’t have to be tortured by whatever age he was going to be! However... how bad could it be to get everything at once...? Maybe there were some things that could go wrong...

Draco turned to Charlie and frowned slightly. “Is it dangerous?”

Charlie hesitated slightly. Draco narrowed his eyes already. This didn’t look very good... Before he could say something, she already answered his question. “It might be. Do any of you have any idea of what he went through all his years?”

Draco and Pansy looked at each other. In the end, Draco was the one to speak up. “Not really in his adulthood. I mean we saw him and he heard a few things, but it’s not really personally.”

It was clear that Charlie was thinking, as she covered her mouth with two fingers, looking at a picture of dancing people in a Moroccan street. Finally, she turned to them and smiled. “Do you still want to try and do it?”

“Charlie, what’s the worst that could happen?” Pansy asked, carefully.

“He remembers everything and it’s too much” Charlie immediately answered. She immediately followed it up with: “Should that happen; his brain will need two days and it’s suppressed again. In these days he will be very fragile and after that, everything’s normal.”

Draco frowned. “But suppressing memories isn’t normal...”

Charlie nodded and sighed then. “Frankly, I have never worked with someone who’s in need of getting over seven years of memories back. Does anyone here know what he went through in his seventh year? And what happened to him during the Battle of Hogwarts?”

This sounded as if she wanted to get information to feed the journalists... Draco narrowed his eyes, however, she seemed rather genuine. Maybe he was just too paranoid of everyone. When he turned to Pansy, he caught her shaking her head. He had to agree with her. They didn’t know anything.

Once they both shook their heads, Charlie sighed. “Well, then we can only hope he’s strong enough to cope with everything life has thrown at him.”

She nodded and got up to get some ingredients. Meanwhile, Draco looked at Harry who was sitting at the table, looking at the same colourful painting which Charlie had looked at a few moments earlier.

“Harry, do you want to remember what happened in your last... let’s say – life?” Draco asked. He needed to know what his ward was thinking. Maybe he didn’t even want to remember anything! Maybe they were in over their heads and they...

“Why are you worried, Dray?” Harry asked and grinned. “I mean, I’ve already had some bad memories of you. It didn’t stop me from hanging around you and enjoying my time in Slytherin, now did it?”

Draco rolled his eyes over how Harry was pretending to be brave. “There are so many more bad memories coming your way, Harry! Are you sure?”

Pansy sat down next to Draco, smirking. “If I wouldn’t know better, I’d say you’re really worried about Harry.”

Draco glared at Pansy, while Harry snorted. “Don’t worry, Draco. I know you’re always here if I need or want to talk to you. Right?” he asked and leaned at the back of the chair smiling.

“Yes, sure...” Draco sighed. He was extremely worried about his ward! There were some really bad memories which he was sure nobody actually knew...

Harry tilted his head slightly and smiled softly. “You’re _really_ worried about me. What sort of bad things happened of which you want to protect me?”

Draco took a long look at his ward and decided to tell him. At least something. Maybe it was better that he knew of something. Maybe then he would be able to think it over again. “You saw someone being killed in front of your eyes, Harry. A friend. And I don’t know what horrors you must have gone through when you were running from the... Voldemort. What if it’s too much? The human brain is really fragile, I’ve heard. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Harry frowned. “Well, in the end it’s your decision, Dray. You’re my Magical Guardian. So, if you think I can’t cope with the effect of remembering everything, you can just tell me to go home.”

He was right. Draco looked at Harry closely. He simply looked back with all his innocence. If he were to receive all his memories... This innocence was surely gone. Draco really wanted to contain it, however, if he did nothing, he was also getting his memory back. It didn’t really matter what he was going to do.

“And will you go home if I tell you to?” Draco asked and smiled softly.

“Probably not. But...” Harry was interrupted by Pansy laughing and he grinned lopsided, before continuing: “But, if you let me do it and there’s something I can’t handle, I can always come and talk to you.”

Draco nodded. “Will you promise me to come and find me should there be some weird memory or something which is hurting you?”

“I promise” Harry beamed.

Well, Draco wasn’t really sold, so he started talking and making up more promises: “Even if it’s in the middle of class or during night? You can come and get me whenever...”

This time it was Harry who interrupted Draco, while he laughed. “Dray, stop it! I promise! I don’t break promises!”

Pansy put her arm around Draco and grinned. “Merlin, Dray, you sound like an overzealous first time mother who’s dropping her children off at school for the first time” she rolled her eyes.

“You mean, like your mother did?” Draco grinned.

That was the wrong way to go down. Pansy narrowed her eyes and then raised her eyebrows. “Don’t bring her into this, Dray, I happen to know quite a few stories about yours too and I know a lot of stories about you. If you talk about my mother again, I’ll tell Harry a really embarrassing one about you...”

“Yes please!” Harry giggled

Draco quickly held up his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop.” He was not going to let his best friend since childhood tell Harry some of his most embarrassing moments. She did know quite a lot of these...

Before they could even continue their discussion, Charlie was back in the room and smiled at them all. “We’re ready. How about you?”

Draco looked at Harry who nodded. Alright. Apparently... “We’re ready as well.”

Charlie held out a potion. “This is Memento Mei” she said, looking at Draco and then at Harry. “It’s a potion which is supposed to give the brain a little nudge into opening closed off sections, such as memories.”

Harry nodded and drank the potion. Charlie then told Harry to lie onto to the table which she had transformed into a thin bed. While he did that, she grabbed a blindfold which she clamped together at the back of his head.

“Are you feeling okay, Harry?”

The little boy nodded and Draco wasn’t sure if he should tell Charlie to stop doing it. That he wanted to go back to Hogwarts. This was all just... so weird. However, he didn’t do it. For some reason it seemed to be the right thing to do.

Charlie explained why they needed a blindfold: “The brain has a lot of memories to go through. It would be too much if it also had to go through all the information the eyes provide. So, we close off this sense and help everything relax. Ready?”

She looked at everyone, though only Harry spoke up: “Yes.”

Nodding, she took her wand, closed her eyes and started the spell. “Et recordabor omnia!” Her voice had changed to be quite dark and almost a whisper, while she kept repeating it. The room transformed into almost a storm cloud and with a huge bang, Charlie opened her eyes and blinked a few times, shaking her head, as if something bad had just happened. The storm cloud had disappeared and she coughed quickly.

Draco made sure she was behaving normally, before he turned back to his ward. “Harry?”

No reaction.

“Harry? Hey, bear, can you hear me?” Draco repeated, feeling anxious. His breath quickened as he wanted to touch his ward. What had he done?! Was that spell bad? Was this woman a snake oil saleswoman?

Before he could reach her, Charlie held his hand back. “Don’t touch him! It’s another sense that could mess him up right now. You need to let the magic do its work.”

Draco wanted to say something else, when Charlie simply continued. “It’s the memory, Draco. He’s now going through everything. That might take a while.” She smiled. “Anyone up for some tea? It will take approximately fifteen minutes until he’s back in reality.”

Shaking his head, he denied. “No thank you. I’d rather stay here.”

Charlie nodded. “Suit yourself. Pansy?”

“I would love to, but...” Pansy looked at Draco, contemplating silently whether or not she should follow her and get something to drink.

Draco smiled at her. “No worries, Pans, just go. I’m here, I’ll call you once he’s back.”

Charlie held open a red curtain and looked at Draco. “You can call for Dross. He’s my oldest House Elf and knows where to find us.” She nodded at Pansy and they left, while Draco stayed back watching his ward intently.

It took about ten minutes, until his ward started panting heavily and he tore the blindfold from his eyes, turning to his side and started puking onto the floor. Draco had just had enough time to jump out of his reach and looked at his ward cautiously.

“Hey, hey” Draco vanished the puke and kneeled down before Harry’s bed. He carefully ruffled through this hair once he had calmed down and turned on his back again. “How are you doing, Harry?”

Harry seemed confused and he was breathing very quickly. “I... I-I don’t... I don’t know.”

Draco nodded and smiled softly. “Dross!” He called out and not a second later, a very old House Elf appeared. He looked nothing more than a skeleton with thin white plastic bag on his body. Draco shook his head, but decided not to comment on that. “Could you tell Charlie that Harry has just gotten his conscience back?”

Without a word but with a nasty bang, he disappeared. Draco turned back to Harry, who frowned back at him. _This is it..._ , Draco thought. _He’s going to tell me that he hates me._

For a while everything was quiet until Harry had a soft grin on his face. “Wow, I really wanted you to be joking about me having seen death...” he said slowly.

“I... Can you forgive me for what I did to you?” 

Harry frowned and shook his head. “No. Dray, why haven’t you told me what I did to you? That scar is not from fighting some soldier! I did that to you! How can you ask me to forgive you, when it’s me who has to ask for forgiveness!?”

“Because I have forgiven you a long time ago. Do you remember the fire?”

“In the Room Of Requirement? Yes, I remember! I... I saved you.” Harry opened his eyes in surprise and scratched his forehead.

Draco nodded and smiled weakly. “You saved my life and that was when I forgave you. You could have just as well ignored me.”

“To be honest, Draco, I have forgiven you as well. There’s nothing... at least nothing I could think of... which means I should be angry at you.” Harry grinned about that comment and stuck out his tongue for some reason.

Chuckling, Draco rolled his eyes. “Thank you, bear.”

Charlie and Pansy entered the room. The witch checked up on Harry by performing some kind of spell and smiled. “Everything seems fine! However, just to make sure, you should visit your healer and check up on Harry again. It’s best to have two or more people see what’s going on.”


	50. Chapter 50

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a short comment also for the people who aren't reading the comments or comment ;)
> 
> Harry has all his memories, but he can't really create a timeline with them. He might be able to talk to people about some things, but if you were to ask him about what he remembers about fourth year etc. he couldn't tell you with a 100% certainty. When he goes through the different years, he gets the memories sorted and can talk about them correctly.
> 
> Also: Shorter chapter, but a lot of fluff for your hearts! <3

Something was wrong. Draco woke up and immediately knew something wasn’t okay. He got up and walked over to Harry’s room. As he opened it quietly, he found his ward turning and tossing in his bed, whimpering quietly.

Draco walked over and sat down on the bed, softly shaking his ward on his shoulders. “Harry, wake up. Come on, bear.”

A few moments later, Harry opened his eyes, while sweat dripped over his face. Out of some sort old habit, he threw his hands towards the bedside table, before looking at Draco. He was probably looking for his glasses…

“Dray! Thank you for being here!”

“Whenever, Harry. What’s going on? Did you have another nightmare?” Draco asked carefully.

His ward nodded and pushed the blanket away, clearly needing to cool off. Draco smiled weakly and simply told him to go and take a shower that would help as well. They were going to talk after.

While Harry was racing towards the shower, Draco made a quick walk towards the kitchen. There was always some elf awake sometimes even three or then. And they had always been nice to him whenever he had walked in there to get something to drink – mostly hot chocolate. Draco was sure that his ward could use something like that today.

He was back right when Harry entered the room again and held out the tray of steaming beverages. Harry’s eyes grew big as the smell of what Draco was carrying had reached him. “Hey, I got hot chocolate.”

“Thank you.” He jumped through the room and stood right in front of Draco, grabbing a cup carefully, before sitting down on Draco’s bed. How nice of him… Should he spill something it was going on his bed, Draco smirked. By then, Harry was already continuing talking: “How come you’re so nice to me?”

Draco frowned. “Well, I am your Magical Guardian, bear.”

“I know, but… I mean, I have memories now and they’re all so weird and bad.” He stopped, taking a sip from his cup and looked up at Draco as if he was assessing him. “Did you make fun of me because I didn’t have parents?”

Sighing, Draco sat down as well and nodded weakly. “I did, yes. And I am terribly sorry about that.”

Harry was still looking at him, though now he seemed somewhat calmer. “It’s okay. I was also not the best person possible.” He shrugged and turned back to his cup, taking another sip.

“Well, you’re the Savior, so… I think in a lot of people’s eyes you are the best person possible.”

“Stranger’s eyes, yes. But…”

Draco held up his hands and interrupted his ward. “Harry, stop it. If you don’t believe me, you should ask Pansy or Blaise, or Theodore. I’m sure they’ll all say you _are_ the best person possible.”

“You’re just being nice.”

Draco chuckled. “And what’s wrong with that? No, scratch that, I know what you’re doing. Don’t answer that. You’re trying to make me ignore your nightmare. Come on, Harry, what was your nightmare?”

Silence. Both were just drinking their hot chocolates and Harry was clearly trying not to look at Draco. However, he knew that with time and patience, his ward be manage to gain enough energy to tell him what was going on in his mind.

And as Draco had thought, it didn’t take much longer until his was looked up and frowned. “Did you hear about what happened in first year? Like what we did?”

“The whole school heard about that! You fought Voldemort who was hiding in the back of Quirrell’s back or head” Draco answered, almost talking about how he had killed him. However, he decided not to say that, as he wasn’t sure how traumatizing that had been for his ward.

Harry nodded. Draco realized what he was talking about. “Oh. That was your nightmare, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. It was really bad. There was a mirror and I saw myself with a stone. Ron and Hermione and I played chess. We flew around to catch the thing and…”

Draco placed a calming hand on Harry’s shoulder and smiled. “Bear, that’s all in the past. Everything turned out fine now, didn’t it?”

“I guess.” Harry shrugged his shoulders, staring into the almost empty cup.

“You guess? You won a war, Harry. I would say that’s a good outcome, now right?”

Harry smiled weakly. “Okay, I think you're right.”

Draco chuckled. “Of course I am right, Harry. I am always right.” He winked at him. “And now I am right about you going back to bed. How does that sound?”

“Bad.” Harry rolled his eyes, while he drank the rest of his chocolate.

“That’s only one wrong letter, bear. It’s _bed_ not bad.”

“Oh my god, Draco! Stop it with these stupid jokes!” Harry – overly dramatic – rolled his eyes again and stood up.

Draco laughed, seeing how Harry was actually having fun right now. “I’m not even overdoing the dad jokes trope. Don’t be dramatic, Harry.”

Now, even Harry had started to laugh and that was honestly all Draco had wanted to achieve. “I’m always dramatic, Dray.”

“I know. That’s why I said it. Back to bed!” Draco demanded and pointed at the door, where Harry’s room was.

Harry now snickered. “Okay, Dray! Stop trying to be a good influence. I might just tell Severus that you let me stay awake until past midnight.”

Well, this challenge Draco was going to accept. It was only going to hurt Harry, if he wanted to tell Severus. “That was once since Pansy was telling a story and if you actually do that I will make sure to put you to bed at exactly nine p.m. every day.”

“You wouldn’t!” Harry widened his eyes in shock, over which Draco laughed.

“Try me! But not now. You have to go back to bed, bear.”

Harry smirked. “You know, I don’t understand how, but you actually helped me very much. I’m glad I have you looking after me.”

Draco was taken aback by the sincere honesty of his ward and after a short moment, he smiled back at him. “You don’t understand how much it means to me to hear you say this, Harry. You’re much more mature than I thought you were.”

“I guess that’s a compliment?” Harry smirked leaning at his door.

“ _Go to bed_ , Harry!” Draco laughed over how unwilling his ward was to go back to bed. “But if you need anything, I’m right here.”


	51. Chapter 51

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise :)
> 
> Happy Mother's Day! In honour of Draco and Pansy who are amazing parents, I have decided to give you another chapter ;) Next update will be on Tuesday.

Harry had been jumpy all day long. It had started a few days ago, but it had intensified in Charms today, where they had tried a new spell and it had scared him every single time. Even though Harry had shown incredible talent and knowledge in almost every class (and almost outsmarted Draco in Potion's yesterday! In eight year! Snape definitely had something to do with it.), the last few days had been really weird. Well, Draco quickly realized what the problem was in this Charms lesson: It was a twin spell which was helpful if you needed to find someone in a crowd. A lot of parents used it when they would somehow lose their children in festivities. It was supposed to chase the object (or person) and while most thought it was hilarious… Draco remembered the Bludger that was chasing Harry in second year.

So, he had moved on quite quickly. Draco needed to take him to Madam Pomfrey after class. For now, he distracted Harry with a magical drawing of a black cat running into a shadow and then jumping out at a person walking by. This had been the first magical drawing he had ever managed and he had loved to redo it every time someone asked him for a drawing, so he had gotten quite a lot of experience. It was the easiest thing he could have come up with to distract his ward.

And so, class was quickly over and Draco walked his ward to the Hospital Wing, alongside Pansy and Blaise. Hermione and her boyfriend had wanted to follow as well; however, Draco wasn’t comfortable with Weasley being around his ward. Not after he had been so unbelievable stupid after Harry had decided to stay with Draco and his friends. Even though... he seemed to be okay with Harry being in Slytherin now.

On the way to the Hospital Wing, Harry seemed to be upset. Once they almost reached the room, he finally seemed able to talk about it. “Why is Ron that way? I remember him being completely different. He was so kind and nice and… and open minded. But now… he’s somewhat weird. Why does he act that way?”

“I don’t know, Harry. People change.” Draco answered. He had just wanted to continue, when Pansy spoke up as well.

“And the war changed all of us. Maybe he realized that there could have been a possibility, where he could have lost his brother. Whatever it is, we can only theorize. Or maybe one day you can ask him” she offered.

Harry seemed rather depressed. He nodded weakly. “I think he hates me.”

“He doesn’t, bear. In my opinion, he’s just a little insecure. You were his best friend ever since you first came here. And now you suddenly hang around us Slytherins. You _are_ a Slytherin. That is surely messing with his head.” Draco ruffled through his hair which at least got a small smile from his ward.

“So, do you think in the future we could be friends again?” he asked.

Before Draco could even think of an answer, Blaise was already talking: “Of course! But it has to come from both sides, Harry. A one sided friendship just isn’t good.”

“I’ll try to remember that.” Harry managed a genuine smile as they entered the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey rushed towards them and Draco told her his suspicions, which were quickly confirmed by a different spell. No more long parchments! Draco was really glad he no longer needed to read all these bad things his relatives did to him.

“Mr. Potter is twelve years old. Let me swiftly check whether or not there’s something that needs to be fixed, then you’re free to leave” she said and cast another spell. And then a few more, so there probably had been something she needed to fix.

They were out of the Hospital Wing in no time and Draco grinned at his ward. He had been so brave and he really needed to get a reward for being such an amazing young man!

So, he turned to his ward and smiled broadly. “I have a present for you, Harry.”

“What’s that?” Harry widened his eyes, looking incredibly interested and happy. Draco even noticed that Pansy and Blaise looked at each other slightly confused and interested.

Draco chuckled. “Well, when you were younger I promised I would go and buy a pet for you when you turned eleven. And now you’re already twelve! Since we have a free afternoon, do you want to go to Diagon Alley and buy a pet?”

“Yes!” Harry almost screamed his answer and Draco chuckled, while Pansy’s eyes were glowing now as well. His happiness seemed to have rubbed off of her and Blaise put his arm around her shoulders, equally as happy.

“Alright! Let’s go before the others hold us back!” Draco said, looking at Pansy and Blaise.

His best friend since childhood seemed to understand what he was talking about and when Harry turned around, she looked down and frowned. “Harry James Potter, you are not leaving here!”

“I am!” he answered and grabbed Draco’s hand rushing through the halls, while Blaise and Pansy followed, shouting whatever they just remembered at them, while they were laughing loudly.

Finally, after quite some time, they reached the apparition spot and Draco along with Harry apparated to Diagon Alley. Once again, he avoided the actual Diagon Alley and turned into a small alley on the right, almost next to the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes (which Harry almost wasn’t able to keep his eyes off).

A little down that street, there was his favorite pet shop, his parents had always sold their purebred owls there, but Draco had been much more interested in all the other animals every time they had entered there. It was only fair that Harry got to choose his owl, or any animal he had wanted to get, there.

“Welcome to Petamans!” they were welcomed as they entered the shop. It was well lit and at the front there were huge tanks with every imaginable reptile. There were also a few fish tanks and on the rather high roof there were a few tree branches with all kind of birds and other animals there. The man standing at the door was wearing the typical blue-yellow striped uniform and smiled his stereotypical shop worker smile. “Do you already have an idea of a pet or do you want to look around a little?”

Once he looked at his ward, Draco decided to chance it. “We would like to see your owls.” If Harry would rather see cats or any other animal, he could always say so. But owls were quite important in their daily lives.

“Of course, follow me!” the worker smiled again and led them through a darker hallway into a huge observatory with a glass roof. Different colored and sized owls flew around happily and the air was filled with the sounds of feathers and hoots. Draco could tell that Harry was awestruck by this place.

“It’s awesome!” He commented and turned to Draco with huge eyes.

The worker nodded, unimpressed. He continued their talk: “Do you already have a favorite species or are there some characteristics you would like to have in your owl?”

Harry looked at Draco slightly confused. “Anything you would want?” Draco asked

“Well, loyalty would be nice.” Harry said sheepishly. 

“If you treat our owls with respect, loyalty is a given.” The worker sounded extremely bored. That was not what Draco remembered his visits being. Most workers were extremely careful and loving with their animals. For this man, it just seemed to be another job to get money. “We can offer you very intelligent owls, or maybe you’d appreciate social ones more? It’s really whatever you want.”

Harry frowned and crossed his arms. “I don’t want to pick an owl just based on its traits!” Draco had his suspicions that this was how Harry felt whenever his relatives had told him to do something: He had the traits they needed.

Draco quickly agreed with his ward. However, there was also something else which Draco quickly realized: There was an owl watching them suspiciously and extremely interested. “You don’t have to, bear, look!”

The owl in question was sitting on a window sill, looking at him intently. It was a white barn owl. The wings which it had tucked closely to its body were brown, with almost orange color changes around it and the white stomach looked incredibly soft and the equally as white face had a heart form.

“It’s beautiful!” Harry whispered and looked back at Draco who nodded. 

The worker had apparently also seen the owl and he shook his head. “Oh no; we have other barn owls as well. He’s a little on edge. We saved him from a rather traumatic owl breeder. He still has to recover from what they did to him. Over here we have…”

Harry looked at Draco and smiled broadly. “I want him! He’s perfect.”

Draco knew the instant the worker told them about the owl’s traumatic past that there was no way Harry was going to look at another owl. He probably saw himself in the owl and actually, from the looks of it, the owl wasn’t scared.

He smiled back at his ward and nodded. “I know. What do we have to do to get him to deal with his traumatic past?” he asked when he turned to the worker. However, he seriously doubted that this man could answer his question. Maybe he needed to ask for the man who owned this shop. Oliver had always seemed to have a special bond with all the animals that lived here. No matter how short.

As predicted, the worker seemed genuinely upset. “You don’t understand: He’s unable to show trust or even to let someone close to him. We have to feed him by throwing his food at him…” He threw his hands in the air, though stopped in the middle of doing so.

Draco frowned and turned around, where he found Harry standing right next to the owl, petting his stomach carefully. The owl was watching him very carefully, however, neither seemed to be threatened or scared of the other, so Draco decided that was the sign he needed to buy the owl.

Harry hadn’t realized that they were watching him and was now currently talking to the barn owl: “Hey, I think we can be best friends!”

As if to answer, the owl hooted softly and it sounded as if he hadn’t used his voice for a very long time. It was a soft noise and Draco smiled at it.

He turned back to the worker. “I guess this seals the deal. We would like to buy him.”

“I’m not sure I can sell it.” The worker frowned and shook his head. “Honestly, we have so many better functioning owls…”

Before he could say more, Draco interrupted him: “I really don’t want to be that person… But I need to speak to your boss.”

The worker was about to say something, when a man appeared next to them. “That won’t be necessary, Draco! How are you, my friend?!”

Surprised, he turned around to face his old babysitter, Oliver Bailey, standing right next to him. He was about fourteen years older and they had quite a lot in common. Characteristics, though. They looked nothing alike, with Oliver’s dark brown hair and his rather stronger body; he usually looked like Draco’s bodyguard. “Oliver! I haven’t seen you for quite some time!”

Chuckling, Oliver nodded. “Well, the war made me travel to the east, looking for some new pets and endangered animals I could rescue. I’m not a violent person and that was the perfect excuse. I’m glad to see you survived it.” He nodded, when he turned to look at Harry who had now moved to the head of the owl, petting it softly. “So, you’re interested in this poor owl?”

“Yes, I think it would help my ward to be looking after an owl. And to be honest, hearing about his story, it matches his rather well.”

Oliver frowned, though nodded then sadly. He wasn’t able to recognize Harry as Draco had put a spell around him to hide him from the public. Nobody needed to know that their hero was a child right now… “Sorry to hear about that. Tell you what, Draco: I’ll give him to you, free of charge.”

“No, Oliver, no. I cannot accept that. We want to buy an owl.” Draco rolled his eyes. Every time he had walked into this shop, there was a present waiting for him which he continued to deny. Last time it had been an amazing cat! Well, his father was allergic to them and right now he had other things going on.

Oliver smirked and turned to Harry one more time. “Young man! Would you like to have this owl?”

Harry looked up and stopped petting the animal. “Yes! He’s beautiful and so soft and nice!”

Now, the worker who had been standing there, almost forgotten, started talking again: “It attacked me three times yesterday! It’s not loyal nor nice!”

Oliver sighed and shook his head. “Please, Noah, there are other customers in our shop; maybe they’ll need help as well. I’ve got this.”

Noah frowned, though still listened to his boss and left. Meanwhile, Oliver turned back to Harry, politely ignoring Draco. And Draco knew that he was trying to give this owl as a present to him. Draco was not going to let that happen.

He had been correct, when Oliver started talking again: “Well then, how much money did you intend on spending for an owl?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. It’s a present from Dray.”

“Really? Draco, why don’t you accept _my_ present?!” Oliver smirked as he turned back to Draco.

Before he had any time to answer, Harry walked closer and frowned. “Why would you give him to us?”

“I see how you treat him. I haven’t seen him so relaxed in quite a long time. I think it would be nice for him to have a home. And I think you would be the perfect person for him to heal from his wounds.”

Harry looked at Oliver for quite some time, before he turned to Draco. In a begging voice, he started to talk: “Please, Dray, my I have him?”

Well then, Draco couldn’t say no to this. He sighed and answered. “Okay.” He then turned to Oliver and raised his eyebrows. “But I will buy the owl treats!”

Oliver held up his hands in mocked defeat and chuckled. “Of course, Draco. Can you go and grab the owl, young man? You can take him home right now, if you’d like to. I’ll give you the booklet of what you should do to help him get over his past.”


	52. Chapter 52

“So what did you name him?” Theodore asked when Harry showed them his newly purchased owl, before they would bring him up to the owlery.

“Dag!”

It was quite, until Millicent decided to speak up, barely containing her laughter. “Harry, you do realize he’s an owl, not a dog, right?”

Harry snorted and shook his head. “It’s not dog. It’s _dag_! Dag is Scandinavian for daylight. And you say it more like daaahg!”

Blaise frowned slightly. “So… you’re calling your owl ‘day’?”

“Unimportant” Pansy shook her head. “When did you learn Scandinavian? Who taught you?!” She seemed genuinely confused as to how Harry had come up with a name like this.

Smirking, Draco decided to explain: “We went to Oliver, Pans. He has a huge book of potential names and their meanings. Harry just looked at them and… decided on taking one right there, didn’t you?” he turned to his ward.

Harry nodded. “Yes. I chose dag, because every day is a present and me and him being alive is more than a wonder. It’s taking things one day after the other and surviving on a daily basis. And he’s now the light of my life and I want to treat him well and one day he will wake up and feel safe and home. Just like I do now.”

Draco was unable to speak and almost started ugly crying. Luckily, Pansy had caught wind of that and quickly escorted him to her own room, where he slumped down in a chair. He pushed his hair out of his face and stared at Pansy, unable to say something. It seemed as if she was also unable to say something, as she simply smiled.

Harry felt safe here!

Even though he had done bad things, he had hurt him… Even with his memory having returned, his ward had a place he called home… This was a wonder! Never had he ever thought that after everything that happened, Harry would feel safe _somewhere_.

“Are you okay, Draco?” Pansy finally asked as she sat down on the floor and looked up at him.

Nodding weakly, Draco quickly brushed a tear out of his face. “I have no idea what just happened. I mean, a few months ago I actively hated him.” He chuckled and shook his head. “And now I’m a mess over something he said.”

Pansy smiled. “You have more feelings towards him that you want to admit, Dray. However, I felt the exact same thing! It’s awesome that he feels safe here! Also, it kind of is his house now…”

Draco chuckled and quickly grabbed his hair, pulling it into a messy bun at the back of his head. “It’s crazy.” He sighed.

He wanted to add a few more things, when a knock at the door, made both Slytherins look up. When Pansy opened it, Harry stood there, grinning at them. “Draco, I realized I never thanked you for Dag! So thank you! Thank you so much!” He beamed and walked into the room, hugging Draco.

“Well, everyone deserves an animal friend! Some people in Slytherin even have pet snakes” Draco smiled. “Did you know that Salazar apparently had a pet snake? Apparently, Gryffindor had a cat.”

“A lion” Pansy giggled.

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Well, did you know that Salazar Slytherin actually had a place for his snake?”

“Of course, Harry. People keep snakes in their houses all the time.” This was Millicent, who stood by the door and grinned at them as well.

Harry snorted. “I’m not talking about small snakes. I mean the basilisk.” He looked at Draco and Pansy, who both sat up and took notice of what he had just said.

“Basilisk? They’re not allowed in the UK, Harry. Did you read a few more story books? From what I’ve heard Timothy Price writes about a boy with a basilisk as a pet…” Pansy frowned, looking at her collection of Timothy Price books. This author had been writing ever since they had been children, about everything that might have been interesting. Draco knew that Pansy had read everything and collected the books and he had to admit, that they were absolutely adorable to read.

Rolling his eyes, Harry shook his head. “You guys are impossible. How about I show you?” he offered.

Draco stood up and held his arm back slightly. Not enough to hurt him and start any kind of flashback, but enough to keep him from walking away. “Hey, bear, no. You don’t need to prove anything!”

“I know.” Harry smiled at him. “But I think it would do your friends good to see it.” He motioned towards Millicent who had crossed her arms over her chest and Pansy, sitting on her bed with narrowed eyes.

“We’re _your_ friends as well, Harry!” Pansy seemed to take offence to Harry’s sentence more than Draco thought she would.

Harry rolled his eyes again. “Do you want to see the snake?” He grinned.

Millicent widened her eyes. “If it’s still alive, I will absolutely do _not_ want to see it.” 

“If it were still alive, I would have told McGonagall about it a few hours ago.” Harry laughed. Looking around, nobody seemed to have anything against it, so Harry led them through the castle. Not before they all brought Dag up to the owlery, where he seemed scared at first, but then quickly seemed to make a few owl friends. On their way to wherever Harry was leading them, it was mostly quiet, a few fifth years studying in a corner, other students talking while they walked by.

Once they walked into a bathroom, Harry used his Parseltongue, which he apparently was still able to use, and… everyone jumped back as a black hole opened in the middle of the floor.

“What is this?!” Pansy asked breathlessly.

Harry smirked. “That is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Once we’re through, it’ll close again.”

“Hold on! You can’t just say Chamber of Secrets without… I don’t know. That thing actually exists?” Millicent asked, clearly confused and maybe even a little scared.

Unsurprisingly, Harry wasn’t very surprised by their actions, as he simply shrugged his shoulders. He grinned slightly devilish and called out “Follow me!” as he jumped into the black hole.

“Harry!” Draco called and without much thought, he jumped in, right then.

Behind him, he heard Pansy and Millicent following as well. They slithered down a long pipe and in the end, they entered the ground of a few thousand small skeletons and old snake skin. Draco rolled over the floor and looked up to find Harry standing there in the middle, barely containing his laughter.

Shaking his head, Draco got up and sighed. “You are just a terrible human being, Harry. I thought you wanted to die!” He brushed dirt from his uniform and made space for Pansy and Millicent who just slithered into the weird looking room as well.

“So you jumped in right after me?” Harry burst out laughing. His laughter echoed from the walls and Millicent looked around slightly scared. Pansy had joined Harry’s laughter though not as loud.

“Merlin, this is creepy!” Millicent finally said, turning back to the others.

Harry nodded and he led them through the tunnels to a huge room. It had a few snake heads on the side and at the back there was a statue and…

“But amazing!” Pansy breathed as she walked backwards, almost into Draco.

Draco wasn’t able to say anything, as he had just seen the basilisk skeleton. He had heard a few rumors of what had happened. This was by no means what he had pictured. And Harry had been much smaller than he was now! A little boy had fought this beast?

Once again, Draco wondered how Harry had not turned out absolutely messed up... “You fought that thing?” he asked.

Harry followed his gaze and turned back to him. “Yeah. Do you think Severus would be happy about a few basilisk parts?” he immediately followed it up, as if he didn’t want to stay on the topic for too long.

Draco chuckled. “If you don’t tell him where you got them, I think he would jump into the air out of joy.”

“I’m not that good at lying if I don’t have to.” Harry laughed. “Maybe you could give it to him?”

Raising his eyebrows, Draco couldn’t stop himself, from grinning. “So, you want me to lie to my own godfather?”

Harry seemed a little unsure whether or not he had gone too far, when Pansy jumped in. “Don’t worry, Harry. He loves it” Pansy winked at Draco’s ward.

“I do not! Honesty is very important.”

“Of course, whatever you say” Pansy once again winked at Harry, who started to giggle slightly uncontrollable.

Meanwhile, Millicent had walked towards the statue and looked behind one of the hair strings. She walked out and called them over. “Guys, here’s a thing…”

“There are a lot of things here, Mil!” Pansy called back, laughing.

“I’m talking about this thing!” Millicent interrupted her and pointed at a silhouette of a door. Everyone was quiet and by the looks of it, not even Harry had found the door a few years ago.

Draco walked closer rather quickly and looked at it. “Wait, there’s a door?”

“Where does it lead to?” Pansy asked curiously, while she tried to look past Draco, who was blocking her view slightly.

Harry confirmed Draco’s suspicion, when he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen that!”

While Millicent walked closer with the intent to open it, Draco got hold of his wand. “Get your wands ready, there might be some weird monster behind there as well.” He grabbed Harry and pulled him behind him. Just in case.

Millicent opened the door softly and when they passed through it, they walked through a small hallway and then suddenly stood in front of another door. Opening this one again, they found themselves in a very familiar room. They stood at the far end of the Slytherin Common Room, right behind the piano.

Everyone stood there frozen, looking at the people inside the room. Pansy was the first one to talk. “Oh my… We stayed next to a basilisk all these years!?” she asked, quietly. You could see her trying to get comfortable with this idea.

“That is a scary thought” Draco added, trying to work with this as well. The door was luckily not that big and it would have never fitted through there, but still… What if someone had accidentally found the door? 

Harry shrugged his shoulders, clearly not that shaken by their finding. “Well it’s dead now. So it can’t hurt you anymore.”

Theodore and Blaise had apparently seen them, as they walked closer, frowning. “We didn’t see you come in! And what are you talking about… A basilisk?” Blaise asked.

“Yeah, come and look at that!” Draco grabbed Blaise’s arm and tugged him through the door and the hallway again and they stood in the Chamber of Secrets. Theodore had followed as well and somehow, a few more students had walked through as well. There were by now about fifteen Slytherins in this hall.

Harry crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t take anything; we’re giving everything we can find there to Severus.”

“Good idea, Harry!” Theodore said and smiled at him, while other Slytherins agreed.

While the students kept looking around, Millicent walked up to them and grinned broadly. “You know what? I think we can clean this up and treat this as another room for our Common Room. We could throw some amazing parties in here!”

Pansy’s eyes lit up with excitement. “You are so right!”

“First, we should take apart the basilisk, then we can clean up the water” Theodore started and after a few moments, he had already started the action plan. After dinner, they were going to show this room to the other Slytherins, and while Draco would show Harry how to work with dissecting the snake, the others were supposed to clean rocks and rubble form the main room and close the other entrances, so that nobody could accidentally stumble upon their room and they wouldn’t get lost.

Draco chuckled and turned to Harry. “Should we start then? We have a few free hours before dinner.”

“Yes!”


	53. Chapter 53

Draco sat in their favorite spot, watching people enter their new room for the tenth time. It apparently wasn’t getting old, which he did quite understand. They had within three days taken everything the basilisk had to offer and sold a few things. It would have been too obvious if they had appeared with so many basilisk parts in front of Severus. He had still been suspicious, when Harry, Pansy and Draco had stood in front of his door with a huge arrangement of basilisk parts.

“What is this?” he had asked.

Harry had just laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “These are basilisk parts, don’t you have eyes?” Draco hadn’t been able to get enough of his ward’s sparkling eyes, while he jibed at his godfather.

Severus had raised an eyebrow, though his smile had betrayed his earnest expression. “Did you steal anything? Basilisk parts are somewhat illegal. So, did you buy them on a black market?” he had asked.

“Nope” Harry had answered, still grinning.

And then, Severus had just shrugged his shoulders, apparently figuring out where they had gotten all this stuff. And he had even laughed. “Alright, I do not need to know more. Thank you!” And that had been it. He seemed genuinely happy about these sometimes rather rare parts.

Right now, Draco had a little bit of quiet, since Pansy and Millicent had offered to take Harry to the owlery to take care of Dag. The owl had gotten so much better under Harry’s care and he even let Draco pet him for a bit without being scared. It seemed as if what Draco had done for Harry, his ward now gave to his owl. Well, he was just happy that Harry had someone to help, since this trait did belong to him.

Grinning, Draco turned back to his book, checking something for his Transfiguration essay, when he felt a familiar presence walking closer to him. Looking up, he found Harry grinning broadly at him and sitting down on the opposite side of them. Neither Millicent nor Pansy was with him and Draco frowned slightly. He couldn’t ask where he had left them, since Harry immediately started talking.

“I come bearing exciting news!”

Smirking, Draco placed the book in the table in the middle and looked back at his ward. “Well, spit it out, Harry. What’s so exciting?”

“Pans and Neville are having another date today at three! Are you willing to follow them around?” he asked grinning.

“Harry! You can’t just follow people around just because you want to know what they’re doing.” Draco schooled his expression, trying his hardest not to look excited. Yes! Yes, he wanted to see how Neville treated his best friend and yes, he wanted to see whether or not they actually worked well together.

Harry grinned. “I can see how you’re trying to hide your excitement from me, Dray… Come on! Tell me!”

“No! It’s the wrong thing to do. Besides, there’s nothing we can do with spells and magic or whatever to stay out of their sight for a long time.”

Once again, Harry chuckled and shook his head. “See, here’s where you’re wrong, Dray! I have my Invisibility Cloak! We can get under it and follow them around. Nobody will be able to see us!”

Damn it. Harry had cleared every little thing that made Draco say no… Now, he really wanted to do it! His ward made a compelling argument. Before he could say something, Pansy entered into the Common Room and walked towards them. When she reached them, Harry grinned.

“Beautiful day, Pans, isn’t it?” he asked.

She smiled, apparently oblivious to his quite clear uncharacteristic behavior. “It is!” she answered and grabbed Draco’s book, opening it, as if there was nothing wrong with the world.

Well, while Draco was quite good in staying with his pureblood mask of neutrality, Harry started to giggle within a few seconds, when Pansy finally looked up, rather suspiciously.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Nothing!” Harry grinned, and bit his lower lip in an effort of keeping it together. Which he didn’t manage at all.

Pansy shook her head. “Harry, what is going on with…” she suddenly stopped and widened her eyes. Turning to Draco, she raised her eyebrows, as if she was checking him closely. “Draco! I am warning you now officially, whatever you’re doing, don’t!”

“Why would you think we’re doing something bad?” Draco shrugged his shoulders, though he couldn’t stop himself from grinning.

“I can see it.” She then pointed at Harry who was hiding his face in his hands, though his shoulders were a clear sign of laughter. “And Harry isn’t that good at hiding. Actually, he never was” she grinned, probably remembering the time where they played hide and seek and Harry kept giggling.

When Pansy left, after Draco and Harry refused to tell her what was going on or what they were going to do, Draco finally relented. “Let’s go, Harry. It’s almost three, go get your cloak!”

Even though he knew Pansy would be livid, should she find them, his curiosity peaked and within ten minutes, they had found the new pairing. Harry and Draco snuck after Neville and Pansy down to Hogsmeade, where the two unsuspecting students sat down in a coffee shop. Draco saw Dag flying around with some other owls. Luckily, he hadn’t seen Harry; otherwise, they could stop their investigating. 

Draco and Harry stood out there and before Draco could say he was disappointed at not getting to hear anything, Harry showed him one of the Weasley’s upgraded Extendable Ears.

“Where did you get that?” Draco asked and smirked slightly. Harry came prepared!

Harry snickered and shrugged his shoulders. “When I was in the Gryffindor tower, I got a few things from Ron’s brothers. I think they like me quite a lot and they tried to give me so much more...”

He placed the ear on the back window sill, where the window was slightly open and the managed to get it rather close to the two love birds sitting in the coffee shop.

Sadly, they had not heard the beginning of the discussion and only basically stumbled in half-way through.

Neville just nodded and smiled. “That’s amazing! Are you already looking for a place?”

Both Draco and Harry frowned slightly at each other, since this phrase alone was rather confusing, however, maybe a few more lines would explain what they were talking about.

“No, we just realized we wanted to live together. What do you plan on doing after Hogwarts?” Pansy asked and took a sip of her cup of what seemed to be strong black coffee. 

Shrugging, Neville copied her action and sighed then. “Not really. My grandmother wants me to join the Aurors.”

Pansy nodded. “Well, you were part in defeating _him_ , you should get in, right?”

“Oh yes. They wrote a letter to let me know that should I be interested in joining them, I was more than welcome to do so. But I don’t know. I think I’ll take a year off.” Neville shrugged.

“And do what?”

Once again, Neville shrugged, though now he was grinning broadly. “I have absolutely no idea!”

Outside, Harry rolled his eyes and turned away from the window. “This is boring. They’re just talking! Why would you go to Hogsmeade for that? They could just as well sit at Hogwarts on a bench outside and talk!”

Draco chuckled and held Harry back from walking away and possibly doing something stupid. “Harry, you’re just impatient! Maybe soon there is something happening! You never know.”

Harry groaned. “Can you do something to spice up their date?” He smirked.

Shaking his head, Draco bit back a laugh. “No! That would just be rude, wouldn’t you agree?”

“But…” Harry tried to say something, when Draco once again shook his head and pointed inside, where Pansy and Neville had just gotten up and walked to the door. They followed the two love birds into Gladrags Wizardwear. Harry was slightly confused by the clothes around and Draco himself also didn’t understand what they were doing in there. Nothing good had ever come out of this shop.

However, they quickly found out, what the two of them were doing: They were trying to find the weirdest things to wear. After a while, Harry was also having fun, watching them getting these things. Neville had found a self-aware knitted jumper that would close any holes it would get. However, that included all the useful holes as well: the hole to get inside, where the head should have come out and both holes for the hands were constantly closed and had to be opened again by anybody who wanted to try it on.

By the end, both Pansy and Neville were in tears and Harry had also had quite some problem not making a noise.

Pansy had found a headband with attached matching hair to every person wearing it; however, they looked to be alive and constantly changed hairstyles. Draco thought that Neville’s findings were much better than Pansy’s even though hers was just as fun to watch.

“That was pretty fun” Harry commented, as they left the shop again to follow them to the next stop.

That stop turned out to be Dogweed and Deathcap, a Herbology shop which was too small for them to sneak into unseen. Through the window, Draco saw Neville buying some flower seeds and giving it to Pansy. She seemed very happy and Draco would have loved to see what kind of flowers they were. Maybe then it would have made more sense. For now… At least his best friend was happy.

Harry wasn’t really impressed, however… the next stop was Honeydukes, where after Neville and Pansy had left the shop, Harry couldn’t help himself and bought a few sweets as well. Draco simply chuckled over it and once they left, Draco turned to look for Pansy and Neville, when he found them entering the Three Broomsticks Inn.

However, Draco could have sworn that Pansy had glanced into his direction and even though he had jumped back under the Invisibility Cloak rather quickly… he was somehow sure that she had seen him.

Well, Harry already nudged him towards the pub, though once they were inside, nobody was there. Draco realized quickly that it was probably a trap, when Harry for some reason took off the Cloak and when the turned around, Pansy and Neville stood there, both crossed their arms over their chests.

“Okay…” Draco smiled and was looking for something to say, “I know this might look rather incriminating, however…”

Before he could say something, Harry already commented on they were able to outsmart them: “That was cool!” he said with wide eyes.

Pansy snorted and shook her head. “Well, what is uncool, is you guys following us!”

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “You can’t be mad at me for being worried about my best friend!”

“Worried about what?” Neville smirked, apparently not mad at them for following them. In fact, he looked rather amused. And well, Pansy too, even though she was still visibly mad at them. Her boyfriend continued nonetheless: “Were you worried that I might abduct her?”

Harry had apparently not seen through their tough personality, as he was just starting to defend Draco. “It’s not Draco’s fault, Pans, I made him accompany me! Otherwise, I would have followed you around myself.”

“Instead of joining, _Draco_ ” Pansy emphasized his name and gave him a pointed look, “you should have told him not to do so! That’s what raising a child should be like!”

Now it was Harry’s turn to cross his arms over his chest. “I’m not a child anymore. I’m a teenager.”

“Harry, would you like to try butterbeer?” Neville offered, apparently not willing to let him witness his two parent-like figures arguing.

Harry nodded, but turned to Pansy. “Are you mad at Draco? It was my idea!”

“I’m not mad.” Pansy smiled at Harry and then turned to Draco about to say something, when Neville interrupted her.

“Just disappointed.” He grinned.

“No!” Pansy chuckled. “I’m just… surprised you guys got caught!”

Draco smirked and it turned into laughter a second later. “Harry wanted sweets.”

“Hey! Don’t put this on me, Dray!” Harry called out and put his hands on his hips with sparkling eyes, about to say something else, when Neville once again interrupted him.

“While your parents argue over you, how about we go and get butterbeer!” He offered and smirked. “That way they can’t say no!”

“Okay!” Harry laughed and followed him through the pub.

Pansy looked at Draco and chuckled. “I don’t know why, but I’m really happy you guys are here. It’s so much fun with you two and I think Neville works with us as well.”

Draco nodded. “It feels that way. I’m really sorry, though, Pans. I shouldn’t have followed you and…”

“Don’t worry about it, Dray. Let’s just enjoy this afternoon!”


	54. Chapter 54

A scream that tore through closed doors ripped Draco from his peaceful sleep and without thinking, he jumped up towards the room of his ward and opened it. Inside, he found Harry sitting on his bed, rocking back and forth, eyes hiding behind his hands, as he continuously said “No, no, no, no, no.”

“Harry” Draco said calmly, sitting down on his bed. “You’re safe, bear. There’s nothing bad going to happen to you!”

What memories must have gotten to the forefront? Draco was sure that even though he had all the memories available to him, that aging would still give him back everything in the correct order. This one seemed really…

Draco sighed, remembering that a year older meant Dementors. These nasty things were surely going to mess up his ward. He looked at his ward who was still rocking back and forth though not as excessively as before. Since he was still hiding his eyes, Draco didn’t really want to touch him and maybe scare him even more. For now, his voice had to be enough.

“It’s just a memory, bear. Here, there’s nothing that could hurt you. I will not let anything touch you that intends on hurting you!” he stated and watched as his ward finally though very slowly let his hands fall onto his knees.

“I heard my mother” Harry explained and his eyes were still wide from fear. “What was that thing?” His brain seemed to immediately supply him with the answer. “Dementors?”

Draco nodded weakly. “Yes, third year was rather scary with them…”

Harry nodded and rubbed his eyes. It seemed as if there had been some kind of unshed tear hiding. “Don’t worry, bear. We survived that year as well.”

“But they’re scary! Why am I always so afraid of everything!?” Harry pulled his knees up and placed his chin on top of them.

Draco chuckled softly and ruffled through his ward’s hair which made him smile weakly. “We all are afraid of some things, bear!”

“What are you afraid of? I don’t think you’re afraid of anything!” Harry frowned at him.

Swallowing hard, Draco shrugged his shoulders as nonchalantly as he could. “I have a lot of fears, bear. One would be that you’re not able to fall back asleep now. Have you checked the time?”

Even though it was a weird joke, Harry chuckled and hid his face in his arms. “I think it’s about four o’clock” Draco heard him say under there.

Neither boy was saying anything and Draco finally decided to tell Harry a real fear. He needed to know that Draco wasn’t this superhero kind of person his ward thought he was.

“I fear that people only see me as the things I have done in the past. Not the person I am. The person I became because of everything that I did” he said quietly. Harry looked up at him and nodded.

“I understand. If it’s any help: I don’t see as your past actions. You’ve been amazing to me and I mean you’ve helped me grow up! You’re my superhero.”

Draco froze and after an initial shock, he started to laugh and shook his head. “Bear, that was exactly what I wanted to avoid you saying: I’m not a superhero!”

Before he could continue, Harry interrupted him. “Stop thinking bad of yourself, Dray! You took me in and even though you didn’t really have to, you raised me. You’re still raising me! And I… I feel safe here. You make me feel safe. That’s what superheroes are supposed to do, right?”

Well, Draco couldn’t really argue with that. Even though he really wanted to. “I’m not a superhero and… you’re going back to bed, now!”

Luckily, Harry started to chuckle and shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever you say, sir.”

Draco rolled his eyes and once again, ruffled through Harry’s hair, when he got up. “Go back to sleep, Harry!”

“Will you stay until I fall asleep?” Harry asked. There a glint of fear, which made Draco quickly agree.

“Of course, bear.” He sat back down and smiled at the boy who was slipping under the covers again.

Before he knew it, Harry pulled him down so he was lying next to his ward. “Thank you” Harry whispered and snuggled into Draco’s side.

This also meant the world to Draco. Harry trusted him enough to actually want him close when he felt unsafe or when he just needed someone. And with this thought, Draco actually fell asleep himself.

The next morning, Draco woke up early and got up just to walk into the door. “Merlin, damn this shit!” he started swearing, when he heard cackling laughter behind him. He looked up to find Harry lying in bed, tears streaming over his cheeks and laughing so much that he wasn’t getting any air at all.

“You think this is funny?” Draco asked, though Harry was in no state to answer and it made Draco chuckle as well, completely forgetting how he had hit his head.

With only a little chuckle, Harry finally turned on his back and wiped the tears out of his face. “That was good!”

Draco rolled his eyes, though he couldn’t stop grinning. “For you maybe.”

“Do you want me to have pity on you?”

“Yes! I am your Magical Guar…”

Before Draco could finish his speech, Harry sat up and grinned broadly, shrugging his shoulders. “Too bad I don’t’ have any.”

Draco placed his hands on his hips and raised his eyebrows. “You know what? Today, I won’t have any dessert for you. Too bad.”

“No!” Harry called out, though a small smirk was still on his face. “I’ll just ask Pansy.”

Shaking his head, Draco made sure to tell him that this wasn’t an option. “She won’t be giving you any as well.”

Harry laughed again. “That’s what you think! I can make her give me her dessert!”

“We’ll see about that” Draco smirked and left the room to go take a shower and get ready for the day. It was amazing how his ward was so happy and laughing. It reminded him a lot of… when he was younger. _His_ ward, not Harry in their actual third year.

Before he reached the shower he heard Harry call after him: “Yes, we will see about that!”

Draco smirked and after a short shower, he was back with his ward, who sat at his desk, reading some books about Transfiguration. McGonagall had allowed him to go and see whether or not he would understand the lessons, since they were rather difficult, he had the option of going to other levels should he not understand them. But well, he was rather focused on understanding everything.

When Harry saw Draco enter the room again, he pointed to a few letters. “Draco what’s this?”

Looking at the letters, Draco was about to jokingly state the obvious, when he recognized what they were about. They were from his parents.

He smiled weakly. “Oh, when I was chosen to be your Magical Guardian, I got letters from your parents.” After seeing how Harry eyed them again, Draco decided to let him read them. “You can read those, bear. It’s fine.” 

Harry tentatively grabbed the first letter and read it. Draco watched him closely and also when he looked at the second one, reading it as well. He wanted to know how his ward would react or if he needed to do something so Harry would feel better.

Once he placed the letters down again, both were quiet. Draco decided that Harry needed to talk first. He had the most things to go through. Having just read letters of his dead parents who honestly just wanted to give Harry the best life possible, must be really hard to read.

After about five minutes, in which Draco was sure, Harry had tried to remember as much as possible about his parents or even his friends, he finally spoke up. “So what happens when someone’s dead? I mean, what happens to these vaults?” Harry looked at Draco questioningly. 

“They belong to you then. Why do you ask?”

“I think I remember Sirius” Harry said thoughtfully. “But I remember a lot of confusing things. I wanted to live with him, I think? But he was a murder?” He once again turned to Draco as if he was looking for some direction with his help.

Luckily, Draco had kept up with the news when the Ministry had written a piece about Black and well, Pettigrew was in their house as well, boasting over how he had outsmarted his friends. He had hated this rat ever since he had arrived in his home.

That meant, he could give Harry a few helpful impulses. “Well, do you know the name Pettigrew?”

Harry answered after a few quiet moments: “Yes, but this is also just as confusing.”

“I bet” Draco smirked. “Here’s something that should help: Pettigrew pretended to have died by the hands of Sirius. Your godfather then went to Azkaban, where he then escaped to take his revenge on Pettigrew. Pettigrew on the other hand was hiding and pretending to be your best mate’s rat. He was an Animagus, someone who can transform into an animal at will.”

Harry frowned. “It’s still not that clear… But okay. So, Sirius died? And now there’s a vault that doesn’t really mean anything to me? That might give me terrible feelings since it should remind me of my father and his shenanigans? Great.” Harry sighed and placed the letter on the desk.

“Yes, it’s yours, bear. But you can do with it whatever you want. You can just tell the Goblins that you don’t want to have that vault and they’ll clear it.”

Harry was quiet, though clearly lost in thoughts. “Ron’s brothers run the joke shop, Weasley’s Wizards Wheezes, right? What if I give them the vault? They could look through it and take everything they want – the whole vault or just a few items. Everything else, I’d throw away.”

“Are you certain you want to do this?” Draco asked, though he was in love with how Harry thought of others too. Well, that was Harry’s personality, to be honest.

“Yeah. I think it would be a good thing. I won’t need that, but maybe they could use it. Even if it’s just for ideas or something.”

“Okay. Should we do it today? Or do you want to wait and think about it a little longer?” Draco offered.

“No, let’s do it after classes.”


	55. Chapter 55

Gringotts was exactly the same as before the war. Evil or scary looking goblins everywhere. Wizards and witches standing around, doing businesses with these creatures and at the end of the long hall sat an even scarier looking goblin.

“Mister Malfoy” he greeted Draco and smiled an antagonistic smile.

Draco had never really liked the goblins. They appreciated gold and money too much and valued human (or in this case: wizard) lives too little. You had to be quite the same amount of money hungry to even stand a chance against their organization.

Lucky for him, the Malfoy’s had gotten to this standard and they left their vaults alone pretty much. If the Potter’s had the same thing going, he didn’t know. Well, he didn’t need to know, but it would still be nice to know.

“Grunvur, you’re back.” Draco nodded and motioned to Harry. “My ward would like to transfer a vault. We would like to invite the new owners to have a look inside and if they don’t want any of it, we’d like to have it cleared.”

The goblin nodded, apparently glad someone wasn’t taking too much time with small talk. Grunvur was one of the goblins who had left the country as soon as Voldemort had gotten back to power. Even though most goblins liked the Dark Lord, it was only because he had money.

“Of course, Mister Malfoy. I need the official letter for the vault, as well as the names of the new owners” Grunvur said, clearing a few things off of his table.

Draco placed the will from James Potter on the table and smiled weakly. “We only have the will, Grunvur.”

Nodding, the goblin read through it and looked at Draco questioning. “Which vault would you like to transfer ownership?”

“It’s the vault 266, to Sirius Orion Black. And the new owners would be Fred and George Weasley. As I’ve said, it’s not official and we would like to have them check out the vault first” Draco explained.

Grunvur smiled again. Again with the antagonistic feel, even though Draco knew that he actually wasn’t evil. “I will be here for two more hours. The preparation of the vault transfer will be ready in approximately thirty minutes, after we’ve checked with the Ministry for the death certificate. Make sure to come by with the new owners before I leave.”

Draco thanked him and he left again, with Harry following him closely. Once they stood outside on the steps of the bank, Harry shook his head. “I forgot how creepy they were.”

That statement was so blunt, that Draco could only chuckle. “Yes. Goblins never were my favorite creature.”

“What is then?” Harry asked as they started walking again. They needed to see whether or not one or both Weasley twins were available to look at the vault.

“Unicorns. I know, it’s very… stupid for me to like unicorns, but…”

Harry shook his head. “I don’t think so. They are beautiful.”

Draco smirked and they made their way through the early morning crowd. Luckily, there were no customers in the shop when Draco opened the front door and walked in with Harry in tow.

Since the chime had sounded over the door, there was someone walking out from the back, while Harry stared at the colorful array of joke articles. Honestly, Draco also couldn’t stop looking around. It looked and felt so happy to be in here and a soft smile crept on his face as he watched Harry walk towards a huge assortment of bigger and smaller explosions with different colors.

“Draco Malfoy!” a sudden voice was calling through the shop. A redheaded man walked out with a huge smile over his face. A day like this could happen?

Draco assumed that the other twin was hiding in the back of the shop which was why the first twin was calling out to him. “Old Malfoy! How are you?”

Shaking his head, Draco smirked. “Thank you, I’m doing fine.”

“How is baby Harry treating you?” the twin asked again. “Do you get any sleep at night?”

Draco was about to say that Harry wasn’t a baby anymore, when someone else had taken over in his honor. “Baby? I’m not a baby, George!”

The redheaded man, apparently George, turned to look at a thirteen year old Harry standing in his shop, frowning at him.

Laughing over this surprise, George shook his head. “I cannot believe it! Harry Potter! In my shop! I need to call the newspaper!”

This comment made Draco’s blood freeze. He thought the twins knew about Harry not really wanting to be in the news and he was just about to say something when Harry laughed. “Go ahead, I will tell them all the secrets I can remember. Which to be honest aren’t as many right now. But soon!”

George laughed and hugged Harry. Draco sighed with relief. He should have known better than to assume the redhead would immediately call the Prophet. From the back, Draco could hear someone running towards the front.

“Harry Potter?!” Another redhead appeared, though better dressed, if Draco wanted to be honest. While George wore simple knitted jumpers and battered jeans, Fred was wearing an elegant grey shirt and dark blue equally elegant looking trousers. Fred hugged Harry as well and they inspected the young man better.

“You look taller” George commented and grinned. “Are you eating properly?”

“I am” Harry grinned. “How is your business going?”

Fred chuckled. “That is a very adult question of you to ask, very nice!”

George put his arm around Fred’s shoulders and grinned. “Business is good, Harry. The fact that we’ve been open though the war makes it look like we’re reliable business partners and a lot of other businesses have asked us to partner with them. It’s getting crazy!”

Before Harry could ask another question, Fred looked at the boy closer and widened his eyes. “You’re a Slytherin, Harry! When did that happen?!”

“A few weeks ago” Harry grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

Draco decided to explain a little more as well. “When he turned eleven again, the Book of Acceptance had decided that he needed to do the sorting again.”

Fred grinned at Draco and then turned to Harry. “You chose wisely, Harry.”

“Yes, we could have been Slytherins as well!” George winked at Draco’s wards.

“Thinking back, we should have just let the Hat put us there!” Fred turned to his brother who rolled his eyes and hit his brother with some paper over the head. As soon as the paper touched his head, it exploded in a huge glitter bomb.

Harry chuckled and shook his head. Fred smirked and cleaned some glitter off his shirt, while George turned back to Draco and frowned slightly.

“So, what can we do for you?” he asked and grinned as Fred groaned, since he found more glitter basically everywhere.

Draco smirked and motioned to Harry. His ward seemed to know what Draco wanted, as he started to talk and explain. “Well, I found a letter from my father talking about his vaults. And I realized that there was a vault that I didn’t need and I think the person it belongs to is dead...”

The twins were slightly confused, so Draco decided to cut Harry’s story short. “Harry wants to give you this vault. It’s supposedly full of prank ideas and…”

“Let me stop you there” George interrupted Draco and raised his eyebrows. “We’re doing business here. Harry” he turned back to Draco’s ward. “Let’s get some butterbeer and we’ll discuss this business venture.”

Fred agreed: “You can’t just give things away, especially things as valuable as vaults! They need to be sold to the best match!”

“How about this” Harry offered, grinning, “you’ll inspect the vault with us and give me an estimate of how much you’d be willing to pay for the vault. However, I will only accept the payment in vouchers for Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.”

George and Fred looked at each other and then at Harry and finally at Draco, who simply shrugged his shoulders. “We accept!”

They made their way over to a pub, where Harry got his butterbeer and they continued to talk about trivial things until Draco reminded them that if they wanted to look at the vault, they needed to leave and go see it, right now.

When they looked at the vault, Harry found a small book with all kinds of ideas in his father’s writing. It had some rather interesting ideas and when he handed it over to Fred, the redhead shook his head.

“We’re not keeping this, Harry! We’re looking through it and copy everything we’ll like but then we’ll send it to you” he said and smiled.

Draco saw Harry nodding, slightly relieved. Even though he wanted the vault gone… he still seemed to want something from it. Well, apparently, there weren’t that many personal items around, since most stuff actually was about pranks and other stuff the three Gryffindors had done at school.

In the end, Harry got a voucher for 300 Galleons and ten Sickles and everyone seemed to be happy, especially the Weasley twins who ended up accepting the entire vault and promising Harry that should they find some personal items hidden somewhere, they’d be sending them to him.

*

“Draco can you help me with something?” Harry asked, once they were back at Hogwarts walking down towards the dungeon.

“Sure, bear. What’s up?”

Harry smiled weakly. “Can you show me how to do the Patronus? I know that it’s supposed to be not that hard and I can do it very well, but I have trouble starting with it.”

Draco chuckled. He opened the door to the Common Room and they entered. As they walked back to their favorite place, Draco answered his ward’s question. “I will feel honored to help you with your Patronus, bear.”

Pansy looked up and smiled at them. “You are the best wizard here at conjuring a Patronus, Harry!”

“Thanks, Pans” Harry answered, flustered.

Draco laughed as he turned to his best friend. “Don’t you have another date to go to, Pans?”

Millicent put a protective arm around Pansy and glared jokingly at Draco who snorted and held his hands into the air. “I am sorry, darling.”

“Don’t call me darling, Draco!” Pansy laughed and rolled her eyes.

Draco bowed to the ladies and turned to Harry, grinning. “Let’s go to the party room, bear, we’ll have a lot more space there to perform the spell.”

“And we’re far away from the girls!” Harry answered, sticking his tongue out at Pansy and Millicent.

Pansy gasped loudly and jumped up, which made Draco push Harry quickly into the direction of the secret door.

“That is not pureblood behavior, little Slytherin Prince!” she called after them, once Draco and Harry had already entered the hallway, laughing loudly.


	56. Chapter 56

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've added this chapter since I believe you really wanted to read what Harry's and Draco's Patronus was (thank you for the comments) and I think it turned out rather well :) I like the chapter as well, so I'm glad I decided to give you an additional chapter.  
> I hope you enjoy it as well! :D

The party room was quiet and Draco had to fire up the candles they had placed everywhere. Apparently, it was either too late to study and do some practical work in here, or it was too early for a party. Whatever it was, nobody was in here, which was fine by Draco. It just gave him another few moments alone with Harry.

“So, the Patronus? It’s quite a skill to have, bear.” He smirked when he saw Harry rolling his eyes.

“I know! Especially in third year, but I don’t really know how to. I’ve tried but…” he stopped and shrugged his shoulders. That was probably to indicate that he just couldn’t do it or hadn’t yet figured out how to perform the spell.

Draco chuckled softly. “Alright, listen up!”

“Yes sir!” Harry called out and it echoed from the walls, just like Draco’s laughter as he ruffled through his ward’s hair. (Who pretended to not like it.)

Taking out his wand, Draco turned away from Harry as to not blast his own Patronus into Harry’s face and called out “Expecto Patronum!” He had a flash in front of his eyes where he had learnt how to ride with Pansy’s father and the two of them (actually Pansy and Draco) were galloping through fields, laughing loudly, enjoying freedom. That filled Draco up with so much happiness that he felt himself grinning so dumbly that a soft chuckle escaped.

Opening his eyes, the silvery lines that floated out of his wand turned into a huge animal. Draco stopped dead in his tracks and frowned at his Patronus. What happened to his swallow? The beautiful small bird flying around his head?

His Patronus now had antlers and stood there proud, head held high and an almost intimidating look in his blue eyes, even though he seemed to be rather protective of everything.

“This is awesome!” Harry called out and the stag jumped as if it had been watching Draco closely and completely ignored the other person in the room.

Draco wet his lips and stared at the stag, before shaking his head. “It is. I totally forgot my Patronus was a stag.” Should he tell Harry that he had originally had a swallow? Well, a stag was much more intimidating than a bird, so maybe not. His ward also seemed clearly excited over the animal and as the stag walked closer, he held out his hand.

The Patronus sniffed at Harry’s hand and then shook his head, walking closer so that Harry could pet him.

“I can touch him! It’s like he’s real!” Harry said with excitement in his eyes.

Draco chuckled, finally feeling the tension releasing from his body and he held out his own hand. “Well, yes. Harry, you already have memories of Patronusses in your head, right? Don’t you remember having petted your own?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders and stepped back from Draco’s Patronus. “I have. But I never knew other people could also have Patronusses I can pet. I always figured you can only touch your own.”

“That would make sense, yes.” Draco watches as the stag walked closer and pressed his nose into Draco’s hand, before it galloped around the room and disappeared.

When Draco turned back to Harry, he seemed to be thinking extremely hard. Draco frowned and was just about to ask something, when his ward seemed to get back to reality. He smiled at him and took out his own wand.

“So, the spell would be ‘expecto patronum’. Is there anything else I need to do while performing the spell?” Harry asked.

“You need to think of an incredibly happy moment of your life. It needs to be so strong that it fills you up with happiness and gives you the strength to cast a Patronus” Draco explained.

Harry frowned and nodded then. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and called out “Expecto Patronum!” slightly shaky.

Nothing happened.

Sighing, Harry crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “I don’t know if I can find a happy memory, Draco. All I have is a huge mess in my head. I thought it was a good enough memory to have Sirius telling me I could live with him. To get away from…” he stopped, looking at the floor.

Draco knew exactly what he wanted to get away from. However, that wasn’t important now. “Harry, you need to find a happy memory that isn’t combined with others. For example, I have a few happy memories of Christmases and things like that. But these memories are too weak. They are coupled up with the knowledge of what happened later, that it will never be the same. That my father is in Azkaban, my mother trying to do everything she can to regain her former popularity… And the spot of where we celebrated Christmas had been turned into the Dark Lord’s office. I can’t think about this and perform a Patronus.”

“That sounds terrifying” Harry answered and sighed. “But I don’t have any memories alone… I have a huge mush of memories from all kind of different ages. How can I comb through all of these to find the one that is making me happy?”

“The question is, Harry, do any of these memories make you happy now? You’ve lived a different live then, you were in Gryffindor, you were hunted by a sociopath and you had a different friend group. Maybe you need to find something from here that could make you happy…” Draco offered thinking about what that could be.

Harry grinned and placed his hands at his hips. “Draco, you make it sound as if there’s nothing here that can make me happy?!”

Realizing that Harry had been correct, Draco chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just saying, bear. Try and find a memory from now that fills you with joy and then try again!”

Nodding, Harry closed his eyes again. For quite a while when Draco was about to ask him whether he had fallen asleep, standing in the Party Room, he opened his eyes again with a rather huge determination in his eyes. He pointed his wand into the air and called out “Expecto Patronum!”

The air sizzled and out of his wand shot a few silvery blue strings quickly forming a huge stag and he galloped around the air made a circle and charged at Harry, coming to a halt right before him.

Harry gasped loudly and threw his arms around the animal, laughing. “I love you! You’re awesome and beautiful and so strong!”

Draco frowned at it. So… Harry had a stag as well? Did his Patronus change too? Sighing, he shook his head. He wasn’t really a DADA professor, so he had no idea whether or not anything weird was going on and he definitely didn’t know whether or not Harry’s Patronus had changed.

It didn’t seem as if it had, but even if he now had a stag… Harry seemed to be happy about everything. And also, his stag was bigger than Draco’s, so they weren’t even the same.

When the animal disappeared, after even Draco got to pet it a little, Harry turned to Draco. “Do you want to know what I was thinking about?”

“Only if you want to tell me.”

Harry nodded and beamed at him. “All of us, sitting behind that bookcase and just having fun. It was such a strong happy feeling that I realized the moment I thought of it that I need this as my inspiration!”

Draco chuckled and they made their way back through the tunnel into the Common Room. There, Pansy brought him a letter which hadn’t been sent with the usual morning post.

“I think it’s from Professor Lupin” she said, while Harry sat down on the sofa telling Millicent and Theodore all about his adventure with the Patronus. Draco was sure that Millicent quickly pushed a tear out of her face when he talked about what he was thinking about.

While he went back to his room to write a letter back, asking for help with his Patronus, he heard Pansy telling Harry to also read the book about Arithmacy, even though the Savior hadn’t taken this class. He was going to tell them that after he had written his letter.

> Good evening Remus
> 
> Thank you for the pictures of you and your friends, I’m pretty sure Harry will love them. I’ll give them to him as soon as I’m done writing a response.
> 
> Harry has finally turned thirteen – a while ago actually – and I’ve taught him the Patronus. It feels weird since I know you’ve been the one to teach him when he was younger. As a matter of fact that is also one of the reasons I’m writing you today.
> 
> I’ve taught myself the Patronus in fifth year and I always found solace in it – a swallow. But today, when I taught Harry, I think something happened to my Patronus. It changed. I now have a stag… Is that normal?
> 
> Could you maybe help me in finding out what it means? I’m really confused by it and I can’t seem to figure out why I don’t have a swallow anymore. Not that I’m complaining much, since I am rather proud of this animal, but still. I’m utterly confused.
> 
> Please let me know if there’s something you know.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Draco Lucius Malfoy

After a day, Draco received a rather encrypted and incredibly short letter back from his former professor that actually did not answer his simple question at all.

> Dear Draco
> 
> A Patronus can change. Under the right circumstances. If you have to ask me for an answer to this question, I believe you are not yet ready to hear what the change of a Patronus entails. Keep an eye out for Harry, his happy days may be numbered if he’s in his third year.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Remus John Lupin

“Well, that isn’t helpful at all” Draco mumbled as he made his way across the courtyard to where Harry was playing with Dag. Looking up, he saw Dag sitting on Harry's head while his ward started laughing so loudly, he fell to the floor and Dag flew up to sit down on a wall nearby. He hooted and it almost matched Harry's crazy laughter. These two were some weird pairing...


	57. Chapter 57

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am really sorry; The last few days have been unexpectedly busy and I've only just now managed a little time off to upload this chapter. I also didn't have time to read any comments, but I hope tonight or at least tomorrow I'll find some time.  
> Otherwise, I can tell you that coming Tuesday my schedule is back to normal and I should have a little more time on my hands. But I really do want to answer your questions and comments, so please bear with me... :)  
> Anyway, here's the chapter and enjoy :D

Once again, they were in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey checked her list with the one she had of Harry, while Draco sat on the visitor chair. He had his legs crossed and watched carefully, as the mediwitch looked over his ward.

Harry on the other hand seemed rather carefree right now. Currently, he was trying to wordlessly cast a Patronus and other safer spells. And he seemed really focused on his tasks. He had come a long way from the innocent little boy he had been a few months back to the scared… also little boy a few weeks ago. Draco had to admit that he liked to see Harry this happy and carefree grinning around the room.

Not even when they both had been at Hogwarts had he looked that relaxed, well… Every year, there had been something in the way of his happiness. Now was his third year and Draco knew they were already at the end of it. That was the only reason why they had gone to the Infirmary. Madam Pomfrey knew that at the end… the Dementors had messed with him.

As the mediwitch nodded and went to her desk to write a letter to Severus, Harry turned to Draco and frowned. “Hey, Draco, what is love?”

Surprised, Draco turned back to his ward and shook his head slightly. “I’m sorry?”

“Well, I figured, you may be the person to ask.” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, I don’t have that much life experience. So… When do you know you’re in love?”

“I…” Draco chuckled surprised and shook his head. “Sorry, bear, the truth is, I’ve never actually had a relationship. So, I don’t know what love is.” He smiled slightly.

Harry narrowed his eyes and crossed his legs as turned on the bed to look at him directly. “I’m sorry, Dray.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry, bear. There are worse things that could have happened to a person, right?”

“Like what happened to me?”

“I…” Well okay, that was his own mistake. He did kind of set this up. Draco sighed and shook his head. “We’re not going there, Harry. If you want to get an answer for your question, maybe Hermione could help? Or even Pansy? But I would wait with Pans, at least until she’s officially told others she’s in a relationship with Neville.”

Harry frowned, before he grinned. “No, I think I’ll ask her tonight.”

“Bear, come on!”

“Too late! I’m already trying to figure out how to embarrass her the best way possible” Harry smirked, slightly evil.

Draco chuckled. “At least do it, when I’m not in the room.”

Madam Pomfrey came back over and handed Draco the letter to Severus. Draco thanked her and the two Slytherins walked back towards the dungeon. On the way, they almost walked into Pansy and Neville, kissing around the corner.

While Draco wanted to grab Harry and ignore what they had seen, his ward had another idea. “Hi Pansy! Hi Neville!” he said loudly and sweetly, right next to them.

Draco facepalmed and sighed. “I’m sorry, guys. Harry come on, we have to get a potion ready.”

“What no, Pansy I have a question!”

“No, you don’t” Draco grabbed his arm and pulled him down the stairs.

All the while, Harry called after Pansy and Neville: “What is love?”

Draco had even been able to see Pansy’s and Neville’s amused expressions as they turned around the next corner. At least they didn’t take it badly.

Even Harry was now laughing and he almost couldn’t make it three steps without stopping and laughing. So even though he had wanted an answer for his question, he had also succeeded in asking Pansy when it wasn’t the perfect time. It took them forever to reach the dungeon and Severus’ office. Luckily, Harry had calmed down half way through.

Knocking at his godfather’s door, Draco turned back to Harry. His ward was rubbing the tears out of his face, while he was still chuckling. “You’re the worst human being possible.”

“Thank you, Draco. That is exactly how one wants to be greeted at his door.”

Draco quickly turned around to see Severus standing at the open door with raised eyebrows. His mask of neutrality faltered quickly, once he stepped aside to let them in. He smiled at them and they sat down by his table, which for some reason was clear now.

Severus gave them something to drink, while he read over Madam Pomfrey’s letter. Once he finished, he looked at Harry, smiling. “Do you want to help me getting your nutrition potion ready? You could choose the flavor, if you’d like.”

“Yes! Hey, Sev, do you know how long I need to keep taking the potion? I mean, I’m almost at my normal age again, right? Do we stop once I reached the age of eighteen? Or do I have to take them until I die?” Harry asked and frowned slightly.

Chuckling, Severus shook his head. “You do not have to take them until you die. Well, if you continue to eat healthy. This potion is going to be less strong _and_ you only have to take it once a day. So, you are getting better.”

Harry grinned and nodded. “If you say so.”

Draco chuckled. “If you don’t mind, I have quite a few papers to get ready for Friday. Would it be okay, if I came back in an hour to grab Harry?”

“Don’t worry, Draco. It’s perfectly fine.” He turned to Harry and smiled. “What flavor do you think it should have?”

“Peach!”

Severus raised his eyebrows as Draco turned to the door and grinned over his godfather’s answer. “Peach? That’s highly unlikely to achieve. Well, to achieve a nice taste with peach. Anything easier? Strawberry? Coffee?”

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Coffee? What kind of potion is that?!”

Draco closed the door and walked back to the Common Room, where he found Pansy already sitting in their favorite place. She seemed to have spotted him, since she looked up and grinned broadly.

“So what was that all about?” she asked and chuckled.

“Harry asked me what it’s like to be in love. How am I supposed to answer that?!” Draco shook his head and grinned. “So I told him he needed to ask Hermione or…” He pointed at her, implying to what had happened.

Pansy grinned. “Well… I might talk to him tonight.”

Draco sat down next to her, grabbing his Astronomy essay and a book about Jupiter, when he turned back to his best friend since childhood. “So, it’s official? You and Neville?”

At this, Pansy blushed and she shrugged her shoulders, trying her hardest to look as if she wouldn’t care. Draco knew her too well. “I guess.”

“Uh-huh.”

Pansy pushed his shoulder and rolled her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean, Dray?!”

Draco grinned broadly. “You’re head over heels, darling.”

His best friend apparently wanted to say something, also because he had once again used ‘darling’ to talk to her. He knew full well that she hated it, even though she called everyone darling. Well, she apparently decided against it, since she rolled her eyes and turned back to the book in her hands.

“And that just proves my point, Pans.”

“Shut up and work on your essay.”

Draco grinned at Pansy who returned it and they continued working on everything they had planned in this one hour.

Actually, after the hour was up, Draco had not only managed to finish the Astronomy essay, he had also proofread the essay for the Study of Ancient Runes and done his homework in Potions and Transfigurations. It was surprising what one could accomplish if the correct mindset was in place.

He had gotten up to get his ward, when Pansy had decided to follow him and so they walked to Severus’ office together. The door was open and inside, you could see Severus just now filling the potion into a few vials. Harry sat on the table, letting his feet dangle.

“Hey, Sev” he just started when Draco raised his hand to knock on the door. Pans held him back and shot him a warning glance. Before Draco could say something, Harry continued. “What is it like to be in love?”

Severus turned around and narrowed his eyes as he vanished the liquid inside if the cauldron. “It’s different for everyone, Harry.”

Harry frowned now. “Have you ever been in love?”

“I have, yes.”

“What happened?” Harry asked and Draco asked himself the same question, though he did remember that the girl he had been in love was Harry’s mother. Severus had told him once on his yearly drunken day. Halloween to be exact.

Severus sighed and placed the vials on the table behind Harry. “I made a mistake and she realized that I wasn’t a nice person.”

Harry shook his head. “She must have not been able to see that you’re awesome! But can you answer my question? I want to know what it’s like to be in love!”

“Why is that so important to you, Harry?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever truly been in love. I mean, I remember I’ve had a few relationships, but… It’s all really weird and there are a few weird feelings smashed together. So…”

Severus frowned as he looked at Harry. “Being in love…” he narrowed his eyes in thought. “You could say it’s like your first time flying. You have no idea how thinks work and it’s all so exciting.”

“But I realized how to fly pretty quickly” Harry answered and frowned now as well.

Draco was unable to move or say something. Severus smiled as he walked to his cauldron; he spelt the flannels to clean the utensil. As he turned back to Harry, he smiled softly. “That’s what it’s like to be in love. First time flying, having no idea how things work. You love it suddenly so much, you can’t live without it. Flying through the air; you devote every free time to it, you need it to survive. That’s love.”

Harry was quiet and watched Severus, before he nodded. “Thank you!” He suddenly turned to look at Draco and Pansy. “Hey! I made a potion!”

“I’m sorry?” Severus asked and a little smirk was on his face, as Harry rolled his eyes and corrected himself.

“ _We_ made a potion.”

Draco thanked Severus and together with Harry, they walked back to the Common Room, Pansy holding the vials as if they were very valuable diamonds, which in some case they definitely were. They had been quietly walking around a corner and almost stood in front of the door to the Common Room, when Harry stopped.

He turned to Draco. He had been awfully quiet for the whole walk – which admittedly wasn’t that long, but still. Now he was apparently ready to say what was on his mind. “I have memories of Time Turners, Draco. Do you think that maybe… with the Time Turners… you could go back and adopt me for real?”

“Harry, I…” Draco widened his eyes in surprise. “I was a terrible human being to you! And you want me to go back and adopt you for real?”

“Yes! Right now all the memories I have are confusing, but I remember my other life. I know how I grew up.” Harry was quiet and Draco was sure he knew what Harry was thinking about. He decided not to say anything. Finally, his ward continued: “And I know what it was like to grow up here. If you could do this… If you could adopt me, maybe I could have been ready to face Voldemort much earlier and… win the war before it starts!”

Draco stared at Harry, unable to believe that he had heard what Harry had said. His former schoolyard bullying victim wanted him to travel back trough time, adopt him and raise him. Because he wanted to. He felt that way.

Since Draco had been silent for quite some time, Pansy stepped in front of his view and grinned at Harry. “It would be his pleasure, Harry. The only problem is that all Time Turners have been destroyed. Nothing’s left.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Harry shrugged his shoulders and grinned, as he walked into the Common Room, where Draco heard Blaise calling out to his ward.

Draco shook his head. “Did that just happen?”

Pansy smirked. “It sure did. I would say: Good job in raising a perfectly normal child.”

“Ha ha, Pans.” He rolled his eyes, but grinned as he placed an arm around Pansy and they followed Harry into their Common Room, where all hell had broken loose. Harry had let a few Weasley fireworks loose and they were hunting the people inside the room good-naturedly.


	58. Chapter 58

For about fifteen minutes, Harry had been sitting in their secret spot in the Slytherin Common Room, giggling to himself. Anytime you thought it was over, he started again and now he was almost in the floor laughing. It was still far too early for breakfast; however, for some reason nobody had been able to sleep long. Harry had already gotten Pansy to laugh along with him, even though she clearly had no idea what was going on and Blaise was also close.

Draco finally placed his book onto the table and looked at Harry. “What is going on with you today, Harry?!”

Harry wiped tears off his face and chuckled again. He cleared his throat and tried to say something, when he started to laugh again.

“Harry! Stop it!” Blaise snorted and threw a pillow at his head.

“Okay, okay” Draco’s ward said and he rubbed his eyes again. It was quiet, before he finally said what had him laughing for so long: “Constant vigilance!”

For a while it was quiet, until he repeated it again and Draco recognized the bit. The Death Eater Moody Impersonator had always used it and sometimes even in the weirdest moments and actually… It was pretty funny how he had used it whenever.

“You are the worst, Harry Potter!” Millicent said. “Let’s get you some fresh air, come on!”

She motioned Harry to get up and when they walked towards door, Pansy jumped up and followed them as well. “Come on, guys! Fresh air will do all of us well!”

It was March and the snow had left again for warmer weather. Well, what one could call warmer weather in the Scottish Highlands. In the early morning… Draco groaned, but he still got up and followed his best friend. Theodore and Blaise followed as well.

Once they reached their garden, Draco sat down under a tree, opening his Charms book again and he was about to fall back into the text, when he heard Blaise shout loudly. At the same time, Harry’s voice could be heard: “Constant vigilance!”

Draco looked up to see Blaise wet from heads to toe, Harry holding a bucket in his hands and with broad grin on his face. He was laughing loudly and Blaise looked at his clothes bewildered, before he got up.

“You little Snake! I will get you!” he called and ran after Harry who was surprisingly fast. That however didn’t stop Blaise from chasing after Harry. “Come back here!”

Smirking, Draco followed how Harry showed incredible elegance, jumping over things, slithering under a table, changing directions with only minor problems. Blaise had after two minutes had enough and he stopped, panting, in the middle of the court.

Harry laughed and stopped a few steps away from him. “Aw, are you getting tired, Blaise?”

“You should be careful, Harry! I might be getting tired but my magic will never!” Blaise promised and took out his wand, when Harry grabbed his and even without a spell said disarmed the older Slytherin.

“What were you saying, Ze?” Harry asked with a rather cocky attitude.

Blaise looked at his hand and turned around to face Draco. “Hey, Dray, can you please get your ward under control again? Something weird is going on today…”

Draco chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. He looked past his friend towards Harry, though he fore he could say something, a mountain of cold wet snow fell down on him and he heard Harry call out: “Constant vigilance!”

Freeing himself from the snow, Draco faced his ward, who was laughing loudly over having just hexed Draco with the spell he had shown him when he was a child. Looking at his friend, Draco nodded at Blaise and they both charged at Harry.

With a loud scream, Harry started running, avoided Blaise once again and almost ran into Draco’s arms, though he managed to evade him and jump over his arms. He had very likely used magic for that and after a few moments, he climbed up the tree.

“You can’t stay up there forever, Harry!” Blaise called up there, when Harry showed his face between the branches.

He was grinning from ear to ear and shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll see about that, Ze!”

“I am your Magical Guardian and I can tell you to come down here!” Draco said, crossing his arms.

Harry laughed and shook his head. “You can try!”

Pansy had by now joined them under the tree as well, putting an arm around Draco. “Face it darling, Harry’s got both of you outsmarted. We all know that neither of you wants to go up that tree.”

Draco caught Harry looking down from the tree and he saw his wand pointing at Pansy. Before he could even say something, Harry called down his new favorite catch phrase, and Pansy expertly blocked his hex.

She looked up with raised eyebrows. “Alright, that’s it!” Even though it seemed harsh, her wide grin showed that she actually wasn’t as mad as she sounded. “Get down here, right now!”

Pansy pointed her wand at the boy in the tree and with a silent spell, Harry flew down from the tree and landed a few steps away from them. He looked at all of them and as if they all had been waiting for a noise, everyone started running at the same time.

Harry dashed through the Common Room, three other Slytherins behind him, and people called out to him. He ran through the hallways, threw a few spells back at Draco and his friends, though none of them hit.

While he held onto the corner stones, Harry slithered around the corner and continued running up the stairs to the entrance area. When Draco, Blaise and Pansy followed, Draco had seen Hermione standing around the entrance and he was sure she had started to follow them as well once they all passed her.

However, Harry had started to laugh a few steps up and they had almost caught up to him, when he looked back and started running again.

“You can’t outrun us!” Blaise called towards him, though his lungs were not really working in his favor.

Draco also had problems staying on Harry’s track, as he had started to laugh as well and it made it hard to concentrate on running and following his ward’s steps. Pansy on the other hand had taken over the leadership of the chase. And well, Hermione was following closely behind.

Harry skidded around another corner and when Draco and his friends caught up with him, there stood McGonagall and Harry right next to her with a red color covering his face.

“Professor McGonagall” Draco said, slightly out of breath.

The Headmistress looked at everyone and back to Harry. “What is the meaning of this?” she then finally asked sternly, as if she hadn’t been able to figure out what was going on, which… yes, was pretty much it.

“Nothing, Professor” Harry said quickly and smiled innocently.

“Harry hexed us” Blaise answered instead, still slightly out of breath, and turned to Harry. “And we’re trying to teach you a lesson.”

Shrugging, Harry grinned back at him. “Since you can’t catch me, I don’t see how you can teach me a lesson.”

McGonagall nodded. “I am just going to eat breakfast. The feast will be held for an additional thirty minutes. Make sure to get something to eat.” She passed them and Draco could see a smirk on her lips, which he was sure she didn’t actually want to let anybody see.

When she was gone, Pansy turned to Hermione who stood behind them. “Did she just…”

“I believe she just extended breakfast time, yes” Hermione answered Pansy’s unasked question. She grinned and turned around. “And I am going to eat breakfast, have fun, everyone.”

Harry was still standing in the middle of the hallway, grinning at them. He quickly made it to the next door, where Pansy caught him in another silent spell and he gave up, laughing.

“I think we should head to breakfast, Harry!” she advised and they walked down the stairs, laughing and grinning about what had just happened.

As they entered the Great Hall, Draco caught McGonagall’s amused expression and he smirked himself. Harry was feeling awesome and there was nothing he would change about how much more alive his ward was today.

Sitting down, Pansy looked into her cup of coffee and grinned at Theodore who wrinkled his nose at the dark beverage. It was their usual game and Draco grinned over it.

“You should really stop drinking this kind of coffee” Theodore said and shook his head. “It’s not good for your personality.”

Pansy chuckled. “As if. I take my coffee as black as my soul!”

Harry must have heard her, since he looked at her, grinning broadly. “Have some more milk then, Pans.” He emptied the milk can into Pansy’s cup, overflowing it so it was now a light brown color.

Draco quickly made the excess coffee, hitting the table, disappear. Pansy was clearly shocked and unable to react. Only after a few more moments, she turned to Harry with wide eyes. “Well, first of all, you just ruined a good cup of coffee, but secondly, you are such a nice Slytherin prince!”


	59. Chapter 59

Draco closed the book and rubbed his forehead, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. Finally! How had he thought it was a good idea to ignore the upcoming essay in Transfigurations?! That thing was already far too advanced to sit in there without having done the reading for this exact lesson, which he had always done. But having put the essay on the shelf until last minute had honestly been the worst thing he had ever done… at Hogwarts. Well, no. At school. Even Harry had a few troubles, though he seemed to be fine most times.

Checking the clock, he realized that it was long past midnight. It was half past three. Yawning, Draco changed into his pajamas and decided to check in on his ward again, before heading to bed and getting two hours and maybe half an hour more sleep. Depending on how fast he would be asleep and how early either Pansy or Harry were going to wake him up.

Opening the door to his ward’s room, he found Harry moving around, as if he was in pain. He seemed to want to get out of a prison or just anything that was holding him back. He kept trying to punch the air and after a few seconds of watching that, Draco decided to forego sleep and helping his ward.

Just as he entered the room, Harry started to whimper. “No, no, no. Not Cedric, please. No! Don’t kill him.”

Draco froze where he stood and exhaled. _Shit_. Fourth year had started and he hadn’t even realized it! Well no, if he had been thinking clearly, he would have realized that the catch phrase, constant vigilance, came from their fourth year, but he hadn’t even thought of that. Now, the real nightmares and terrors would probably start. At least it would only take another month. Still, too much for his innocent ward to have nightmares!

Sitting down on Harry’s bed, Draco placed a calming hand on Harry’s arm. “Harry, wake up, bear! You’re not… on that cemetery. Come on, bear, you’re safe. The world has changed.”

How exactly did you wake someone up from their nightmare? Draco was far out of his comfort zone, but he needed to bring Harry back to reality. That was the only thing he wanted to achieve.

“Harry, bear, wake up!”

This time it actually seemed to work, as Harry opened his eyes wide in panic, followed by a loud scream and heavily breathing. He did seem to recognize Draco, though before he could say something, he turned over the side of his bed and threw up. Reacting quickly, Draco placed a bucket there, before it hit the floor.

He then rubbed his ward’s back in circles and tried to calm him down this way. Harry fell back in his bed and started crying, even though he tried his hardest to keep it inside. Draco held his shoulder and vanished the bucket, before sitting down closer to his ward.

“It’s okay, Harry” Draco sad calmly and softly pushed some of Harry’s hair out of his face. “You’re safe here.”

Harry rubbed his eyes and looked up at Draco through his tears. Some were still running down the side of his face into his hair. “Why is my life so fucked up?”

Draco smiled weakly. “I don’t know, Harry. But I do know that you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. Even though you went through traumatizing shit, you somehow kept it all together to have a somewhat normal looking life.”

“It might look normal, but it’s not.” Harry turned to his side and sighed, rubbing his eyes again. “Why did nobody stop me from being in the Triwizard Tournament? They could just put me into a room, have me pretend to do a task and give me zero points every time. Nothing makes sense.”

“I know, Harry. I’m sorry you had to go through this.” Draco placed his hands on Harry’s knee and squeezed it shortly. “Do you want to talk about your nightmare?”

Harry shook his head, though he seemed to change his mind quickly after. “It’s everything at the same time: the dragon, the maze, the water… the cemetery. I saw him being re-born. He’s got my blood…” Draco followed his ward’s gaze and found his wrist in a bloody mess.

He quickly helped Harry to his feet and they walked up to the Infirmary, where Madam Pomfrey for whatever reason seemed fully awake. Maybe she had somehow calculated them arriving around now. The mediwitch took a quick look and made Harry lie down on a bed, wrist towards her. Draco stood on the other side of the bed, holding his ward’s hand.

“Don’t worry, Harry, we’ll fix you right up.”

Harry had once again some tears in his eyes when he turned towards Draco. “What if I’m too broken?”

While Madam Pomfrey walked over to her desk to get whatever she needed, Draco leaned down over Harry. He shook his head. “You are _not_ broken, Harry. You are so strong that nobody could get you to crack!” he said quietly.

“It doesn’t feel like it.”

Draco nodded softly. “I know, bear. I know. We’ll get through this together, okay?”

The only thing Harry could do was nod weakly, before Madam Pomfrey stood next to them again. She performed some spells which cleared the wound and only left some smaller scars. Harry frowned at them and even Draco looked up at the mediwitch.

“Will they stay?” he asked, really hoping that it was maybe just a ritual wound and not a magical one. Magical scars couldn’t be healed; however, ritual scars only needed time to be gone.

Madam Pomfrey smiled and put a bandage around it. “It will not stay here forever. Keep the bandage on for about twenty four hours. You’re aging so quick it should be helping in removing the scar. It was a ritual, not an actual magical scar. You’re lucky.” With that she nodded at the two of them and walked back to her desk.

Harry shook his head. “I don’t feel lucky.”

“You’re still alive, Harry. I think that is very lucky.” Draco ruffled through his ward’s hair and turned to the mediwitch. “Madam Pomfrey, do we have stay here, or would it be okay to head back to our Common Room?”

Madam Pomfrey gave them a parchment, which was probably immunity should Filch find them out of bed. “You are free to leave. Come back tomorrow before you go to breakfast. Not” she checked the clock at the wall and smiled. “Not today before breakfast.”

Draco nodded. “Thank you!” He turned to Harry who was already sitting on the bed and then jumped down, walking to him.

They silently made their way down towards the Dungeon. When they finally reached the last bit, where Filch was clearly not going to find them, Harry turned to Draco, slightly frightened. Before Draco could ask what was going on, his ward was already speaking.

“Draco, do you think it might be possible to see my parent’s grave? Can I go there? You… You don’t have to go there with me, but I just…”

“Of course, Harry.” Draco smiled and put an arm around his ward’s shoulders. He wanted to prove Harry that he had absolutely no reason in being afraid to ask for something.

As they entered the silent and dark Common Room, Harry seemed to visibly breathe easier. The only muffled sounds came from a few House Elves cleaning and putting more fire wood into the box next to the fire place.

Finally, Harry turned to his Magical Guardian. “Do you also have nightmares?”

Draco was slightly surprised by this question, but decided to answer it honestly. “All the time, Harry.”

Frowning, his ward stopped walking towards their room and he turned to Draco. “But you don’t wake up, throwing up and crying.” He seemed slightly embarrassed as he looked at the floor, chewing on his lower lip.

“I wake up in cold sweat, feeling the Dark Lord breathing down my neck” Draco answered and shivered with even the memory of the nightmares. “I can see his eyes in the dark in every corner. I can see him sometimes when I’m sleep deprived in every teacher.”

That had apparently given hope to Harry, as he turned to Draco again. “What do you do against that?”

Shrugging his shoulders lightly, Draco smiled. “Reminding myself that he’s no longer here. That I am safe, I have my friends around here. I think about how I survived the war, but he didn’t.”

“So it’s all just mind tricks?” Harry once again frowned.

“I guess. It’s just remembering what reality is and what is happening in your dreams.”

Harry shook his head and looked at his bandage. “But it was so real! And I… I was bleeding!”

Draco sighed and pulled his ward into a hug. “I don’t have an answer for that, bear. I think it might be because you’re still growing up? So the dream somehow intercepted your reality…”

“That’s too confusing for four in the morning.” Apparently, his adrenaline had finally given in and he yawned, holding on to Draco. He seemed to be extremely tired.

Chuckling slightly, Draco succeeded in separating them and led his ward back to his room and then even managed to put him to bed. “It is. Luckily, you’re going back to bed. Hopefully, you can sleep better this time.”

Before he could get up, Harry held his arm back and smiled tiredly. “Can you stay with me? I’m not that… strong.”

“You are very strong, bear” Draco answered and nodded then. “Nevertheless, I will stay with you until you fall asleep, Harry.”

“Thank you” Harry’s answer was just a very tired whisper and Draco was sure he had fallen asleep right then when the last letter had left his mouth and his head met with the pillow.

Even so, Draco leaned over him, adjusted the blanked and watched him for a few seconds longer. “Anytime.”


	60. Chapter 60

Trees were moving majestically in the soft wind, creating scary skeleton-like figures on the brown, dirty ground. The streets had long ago been turned into earth and the burnt down houses, broken windows and death in the air only seemed to be proof of one thing: There was nobody left who cared.

The leaves from last autumn were still lying around, about to crumble into dust with only one single touch. Some dirty snow had changed the earth into muddy puddles, though it was about to transform back into normal but brittle earth.

Nature had started to take back the old village. Houses were greener, grass and flowers growing on the inside. Vines were creeping up the wooden walls and a shy fox was running into one of the houses. Birds were singing, a stag roared through the near woods and a raccoon rummaged through the long forgotten garbage cans.

As steps were heard, the animals quickly went into hiding – for the very first time ever since nature had given them their territory back. The leaves burst into dust as soon as the shoe hit them and all it crunched as the two figures walked closer.

A nosy squirrel climbed down half a tree and stopped, watching the intruders intently. The two men were just as quiet as the rest of the forest, so the animal decided to investigate further and as they walked around a corner, the squirrel followed them curiously.

The gate to the cemetery was in pieces when Draco carefully pushed open the only wooden beam holding everything together. The loud screech it produced silenced the forest for a short amount of time and they entered the final resting place for the dead.

For some reason, Harry seemed to know exactly where to find his parents and he quickly walked over to their graves. Draco followed quietly and looked at all the pureblood wizard names on the graves. There were a thousand years of history here, but nobody seemed to be interested in it. It was sad how bad Godric’s Hollow looked. At the end of the war, everyone had hurried to get away from here. The Dark Lord had set his eyes on this place. And now it seemed to belong to the earth.

That seemed to be proof, since Draco caught a very interested squirrel hopping on top of the wall, following them closely. Smirking over this animal, Draco turned back to Harry, who placed a flower on top of his parent’s grave.

“Do you think they’re proud of me?” Harry asked, whispering. It seemed as if he wasn’t willing to destroy the quiet of the nature.

Draco smiled and placed a hand on his ward’s shoulder. “Of course they are, Harry! You are a hero! Most of all, you are a great human being. I can’t speak from experience, but I’m sure that’s what every parent wants from their children.”

Harry beamed at Draco and nodded. “Well, you are an amazing person as well, Draco!”

They stayed quiet for a while, looking at the two gravestones. It was eerie, when the sun finally disappeared behind the mountains and finally, Harry got to his feet and sighed. Wordlessly, they both turned back to the entrance of the small cemetery to find a fox looking at them. As soon as they had seen it, it jumped and was gone within seconds.

Harry chuckled. “I like it here.”

“You like it because of the animals, Harry. I’m pretty sure you’re not a fan of all the decaying house structures” Draco told him, to which Harry giggled.

“That’s what you want me to think, Dray. But I actually like the quiet here. And yes, I like the animals. But that’s not all.” He shrugged and they walked out of the cemetery, Draco once again seeing the squirrel.

Now it was holding onto a mushroom, eating it. As soon as it realized that Draco was watching it, it climbed up the nearest tree and was gone.

Draco put his arm around Harry and smiled. “Ready to go home?”

Nodding, Harry held onto Draco who apparated them back to outside of Hogwarts.

*

How peculiar. Draco frowned at the empty room. Harry’s bed was made almost perfectly. His whole room looked spotless, though at the same time untouched. As if nobody had ever entered the room. Where could he be? It was dinner time and he hadn’t seen his ward even since they went back to Hogwarts.

Draco had decided to ask for some help from the Gryffindor’s study group in the library and he understood Transfiguration now a tiny bit better, though it would probably still be easier to learn Arabic.

He turned around and walked back into the Common Room, where Pansy placed her ten books about the new Muggle laws into a neat pile, and shook his head. “Pans, have you seen Harry in the last few hours?”

Pansy looked up alarmed and shook her head. “No… should I have? Wasn’t he with you?”

“No, I decided to ask for Transfiguration help and Harry said he wanted to learn a little bit as well. But he said he’d be in the Common Room.” Draco slowly grew agitated. Where was Harry? Was he abducted? But who would do that? The only person he could think of was Weasley and… that was just mean. Additionally, he had stayed with them all the time. So it couldn’t have been him.

Millicent walked out of the party room and stopped when she saw Pansy and Draco in slight panic. “What’s going on?” she asked now also in mild panic mode, even though she probably had no idea what had them both on edge.

“Did you see Harry in the party room?” Pansy asked and crossed the room, accidentally knocking over her pile of books again.

“No, there are only a handful of people in there, right now. None of them are Harry.” Millicent frowned. “Why? Where is he?”

Draco rubbed his forehead. That could not be happening! Had he now actually lost Harry? After he had trusted him so much? That was weird and absolutely didn’t match how his ward had behaved the last few days. Or even weeks. Was it too much with visiting his parent’s graves? Should he have not done it? But he did seem fine…

Shaking his head, Draco turned to the door. “I’ll see whether or not he’s in the kitchen.”

Pansy nodded. “Maybe he’s playing with Dag. I’ll check the owlery!” She followed him quickly, while Millicent walked after them as well.

“He could have also gone to dinner without telling us. I’ll look in the Great Hall” she said and when Draco separated from them first, he hoped that she was right. Hopefully, Harry had just accidentally gone to dinner without having said anything.

That was the only explanation he was accepting. What would the other explanation be? Draco had no idea what was going on in his wards brain sometimes and this clearly was one of these times. 

Nobody was in the kitchen except for really hard-working House Elves. Draco turned around before they had even seen him, not wanting to eat something or having to take something from them that they had offered. So what now?

Maybe Pansy and Millicent were successful? Draco rushed up the stairs, almost crushing into his Potion’s Professor and came to a halt a little bit away from the doors to the Great Hall. Severus had called out to him and so he turned around.

“Draco, what is going on? You look as if you’ve lost your mind…” Severus frowned.

Nodding, Draco cleared his throat. “Harry’s gone. I can’t find him! Millicent is in the Great Hall looking for him, Pansy decided to check the owlery. I don’t know if they’ve found him.”

His godfather changed color, even though it was almost impossible to see with his already light skin tone. “He did use to hide away when he was thinking.”

“Severus” Draco narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t you finally tell me why you care about him that much? When he was at Hogwarts, you seemed willing to kill him, sometimes. Why are you now so… soft?”

Before the Potion’s Master could say anything, Millicent walked out of the Great Hall, looking at Draco and shaking her head. “He’s not in here. Let’s hope Pansy found him!”

“I don’t understand!” Draco sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Where would he go?”

“The edge of the Forbidden Forest, the Astronomy Tower or the Room of Requirement.”

Millicent and Draco both looked at Severus as if he had just told them that he believed in fairytales being real. How had his godfather just said three places and all of them actually seemed to be a genuine good guess? Maybe he was guessing…

Draco cleared his throat. “How do you know?”

“Just… trust me on this” Severus said, before he turned and walked into the Great Hall. He stopped at the door and turned around. “When you find him, give me a Patronus. Just say, ‘yes’.” With that he was gone.

Frowning, Draco looked at Millicent and shook his head. “I’ll give Pansy a Patronus to go to the Astronomy Tower, you go and see what happens at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, I’ll check the Room of Requirement.”

Millicent called something after him; however, Draco was already a few stairs up and cast a Patronus to his best friend. He never really liked the Room of Requirement and apart from some play dates with Harry and his friends, he had always tried to use paths that didn’t lead by this hallway. There were just too many memories there.

When he finally made it, he braced himself, walked in front of the room and heard a door appear. Draco opened it quickly to find… an empty and rather dismal looking room. There were a lot of dirty white looking pillars and quite a lot of windows, even though it didn’t actually have windows around. They had been magically created and the scenery in front of it was equally as magical. It reminded Draco a lot of the Ministry.

This room definitely wasn’t what Draco had imagined, which meant there was someone else in here, already using the room.

As a matter of fact, Draco spotted his ward sitting on a window sill, knees up to his chest and hugging his legs while he looked out of the window, where a magical storm was raging. Draco sighed in relief and quickly cast a Patronus to Severus with the message ‘yes’. He then cast two more for Pansy and Millicent only telling them to go and eat dinner.

Apparently, Harry hadn’t heard any of it, as he jerked up when Draco walked closer. He looked at Draco with wide eyes and then, smiled weakly once he seemed to recognize him.

“Hey Dray.”

Draco shook his head. “Harry, I was so scared! I couldn’t find you! Why are you here?”

Harry’s smile was sad and tired. As if he hadn’t slept in weeks. “I needed time to think. I… I didn’t want to scare you, Draco. Sorry.” He seemed genuinely embarrassed. “Hermione and Ron never freaked out when I went to think somewhere.”

“Well, I’m not ‘Hermione and Ron’. And I thought someone kidnapped you! How could you just run off and…” Draco felt how angry he was. He needed to dial it back, since Harry had actually not done anything to deserve this. Draco wasn’t angry at him, but at himself. Everything that told Harry to go into hiding. “Sorry, bear. That was uncalled for.”

“It’s fine, Dray. You’re right. I should have at least told you where I went” Harry slightly tilted his head and jumped from the window sill. “I just needed to have a little time with my thoughts.”

Nodding, Draco walked closer to his ward. “And are you feeling better or do you need a little more time alone?”

Harry shook his head. “It’s better now, but I think I would like to talk about it. With you.”

Apparently, Harry had already wanted to sit down somewhere, since there was already a very soft looking couch in the corner. They both sat down and Draco looked at his ward expectantly, not wanting to pressure him into talking.

“I needed to think about… everything. The fact that I’m growing up with you, that I’m now in Slytherin… I was looking at pictures of me and Hermione and Ron and it just looks like… another life. It was so weird. I know I went to the graves of my parents sometime with Hermione.” Harry shrugged his shoulders, his eyes firmly locked on the floor, as if it was hurting to look up. “Everything was just crashing down on me and I didn’t know what to do.”

Draco frowned slightly. He had no idea what to do with that. “So… how can I help, bear?”

Harry looked at him and smiled. “You are always helping, Draco! I was lost in my own world, my what-ifs and you came here and found me.”

“Yes, but I mean with the other things…”

“It’s the past.” Harry smiled softly. “There is nothing that can change the past, Draco. And yes, we can try and learn from it, but mostly it’s just pain. And thanks to you, I don’t have that anymore. I still have a few memories of them, but…” a broad smile had taken hold of Harry’s face and he even chuckled, “but I have more positivity in my memories now. So, in a way… It was all worth it.”


	61. Chapter 61

Draco looked worriedly over to his ward sitting between Pansy and Blaise. It had been two days since he had woken up with the nightmare of the Dark Lord. And it had been two days since he had stopped properly eating. Pans had made sure to give him healthier food so that he would at least eat healthy. And Theodore had continued sneaking food from the kitchen, mostly sweets in hopes that Harry would eat that. Nothing had worked.

The nightmares had continued, though not as vicious as that one night, though still bad. Draco had woken up that last night to find Harry hiding under the covers, crying. And even though he had told him, that he could always come and wake him up, Harry had apparently decided not to disturb him. That would be fine, but not with how disturbed and scared Harry was right then.

And now, he wasn’t eating. Had he always been that way? How much had he eaten when they were at Hogwarts together? Draco had always watched him, but he never thought to check on how much he was eating. The fact that neither Hermione nor Ginny, who both kept a very close watch on Harry, had come to talk to Draco made this even worse. It seemed as if Harry had been starving himself not only at home but also at Hogwarts.

The only person outside their group who also seemed to be worried was Severus. Draco had caught his glance in their direction – mostly towards Harry – once again and he was sure that after lunch, he was going to get a parchment or a personal invitation to go and talk to Severus. Most likely to change the potion again. At least, Harry was still taking the potion. And he did try to eat, mostly when Millicent, Pansy or Blaise told him to take another bite. Which also proved that Draco wasn’t imagining things…

Well, Draco had been absolutely correct, when he walked towards the dungeon and heard a few hurried footsteps behind them. Turning around, Draco found Severus following them.

“I’ll be right with you, guys” he smiled and nodded at Harry, who managed a small, tired smile, before he followed Millicent, once Pansy put her arm around him.

Turning back to Severus, Draco saw him once again rather worriedly looking after his friends (more likely Harry). He really had changed. In their first year, he would have probably thought it was funny how little he ate. Now all of a sudden, he was extremely worried. Well, Harry was now a fellow Slytherin and Severus had always been a father figure for all of them, so it did make sense.

Once he reached Draco, he frowned at his godson. “What is going on with Harry? How long has he eaten that little?”

“It’s his fourth year, Severus. He’s having quite a few bad nightmares. All about the cemetery, Diggory dying and all the other things surrounding the Triwizard Tournament” Draco explained and sighed.

Severus nodded. “I see. Could you bring him to Madam Pomfrey today, so I know how exactly to change his nutrition potion?”

Draco sighed. “We have quite a full day, Severus. The best I can do is after dinner. But it might be too late by then. I mean, it’s Thursday, so he will age another year tomorrow.”

“I’ll bring him to her, then” Severus said determined. It seemed as if he had set his eye on this and well, Draco was not going to argue with that. 

Severus had stayed true to his statement, as he actually waited for them outside the Common Room and told Harry to follow him. Together they made their way along side Draco and every other eighth year student up the stairs until he changed directions and brought him to the Hospital Wing.

Draco looked after his ward, hoping that there would be something they could deal with. He really wanted his ward back, the laughing, happy child he had known ever since… well since the beginning actually.

Surprisingly, Harry didn’t return to their class at all that morning and even lunch was held without him. And without Severus.

“Where’s Harry?” someone asked once they walked out of the Great Hall and Draco turned around to see Hermione and Weasley standing there. It must have been Hermione who asked the question… unless Weasley had changed his voice to sound higher than usual – which Draco doubted.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “Severus is taking care of him today.”

Weasley frowned. “Why wasn’t he in our lessons?”

“I don’t know, Weasley. As you do have the power of sight, you might be able to realize that I am not Severus. So, I don’t know why he decided not to send him to our classes” Draco answered, slightly on edge, and shrugged his shoulders.

“Draco, why would you give Harry to someone who’s known of torturing him?!” Hermione shook her head, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of Harry being in Severus’ hands.

Groaning, Draco rolled his eyes. “He’s different.” At the sight of Weasley about to start talking, Draco continued. “I don’t know what happened. I just know that he cares about Harry. For some weird reason, Harry seems to have grown on him. So if he wants to take care of _my ward_ , I’m not going to say no.” Weasley had the talent of really annoying him right now.

Hermione seemed to realize that Draco wouldn’t give Harry to Severus if he had thought Severus was going to do something bad, since she held back Ron from saying something, and nodded at Draco. “Could you tell Harry that we were looking for him?”

“Okay?” Draco narrowed his eyes. “And what do you want him to do with this information?”

“He’ll know” with that she smiled at him and walked off.

Pansy stepped next to Draco and looked after the Gryffindors, before shrugging her shoulders and grabbing Draco. “I’m sure he’ll have no idea why they were looking for him and what he should do with the information. It’s not as if they had been doing this for the past… eight years” she smirked as they followed Blaise and Theodore through the dungeon.

Draco chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll never know. Actually, if I tell him that they were looking for him and ask what it means, he might tell us.”

“Or” Millicent interrupted him, gaining upon them, “he’ll just look at you as if you’ve lost your mind.”

“Should that happen, at least we know that Harry…” Once again, Draco was interrupted, though this time by Pansy, giggling.

In fact she was giggling so much, she almost couldn’t get her sentence out: “… loves you!”

Draco rolled his eyes and pushed Pansy to the side, while she burst out in a fit of laughter which led to Draco smirking and Millicent shaking her head over how stupid she was being.

As they passed by Severus’ office, Draco knocked, but everything was quiet. He could still be in the Hospital Wing, though that was rather unlikely, since that meant something bad had happened to Harry. Or rather something worse than what had happened up until now. And that seemed rather impossible!

“Maybe… they’re outside?” Millicent offered and after a short stunned silence, Draco belted out laughter.

He saw Severus in front of him, running around on the green grass, Harry behind or in front of him, just outdoing his godfather wherever he could. Pansy also snorted and Millicent bit her lower lip so she would laugh over he own statement.

They headed to their Common Room, where they had a short break of about thirty minutes before the classes would start again. Inside, the door to their secret garden was open and Draco frowned when he looked outside to see Severus.

What was he doing here?! Frowning even more, Draco walked up the three steps into their garden and found Harry standing under a tree with Dag on his arm. The owl looked like a completely different animal. He was strong and confident and well fed.

Just like Harry, actually.

“Draco!” Harry called over, when he noticed him. “Look, I’ve trained Dag! Look what he can do!”

While he turned back to his owl, Severus turned to face Draco with a suspiciously relaxed smirk on his face. It seemed that whatever they did there in the garden was a rather welcomed change of scenery in his life.

“What did he teach him?” Draco asked as he approached his godfather.

Severus chuckled. “I’m not telling.”

Draco grinned, turning back to Harry who petted Dag’s stomach and said “Reveal.”

Dag hooted and spread his wings holding it for a few seconds, before nestling back into his former state. He then looked up at Harry expectantly and the former Gryffindor gave him an owl treat. They worked perfectly together and Dag did have amazingly beautiful wings.

“Nice. You really are teaching him tricks! And he looks so healthy!” Draco praised and chuckled.

Harry nodded and walked closer, releasing Dag who flew up into the air only to land on a rock close to Harry again. “Severus explained that I need to take care of me. The same way I’m taking care of Dag and he gave me a few tricks to teach to Dag.”

“He did?” Draco looked over to Severus, trying to hide a smile.

“Don’t look so skeptical, Draco. I’ve taught you the same tricks. Your parent’s only never wanted them to be put to test. Purebred owls and things like that” he rolled his eyes. He actually rolled his eyes.

Draco smirked. “It’s nice to see, you’re doing better, Harry.”

Harry laughed. “Can I go with you to the lessons this afternoon? I really want to learn more about Transfigurations!”

“No!” Draco rolled his eyes, pretending to be mortally wounded. “How could you do that to me?! You know I can’t figure out Transfiguration!”

Harry giggled and after he petted his owl, he jumped back inside. Severus shook his head and followed him as well. “Does he really understand Transfiguration?” he asked when Draco joined him into going back into the warmth.

“Maybe a little” Draco answered and smirked. Who really understood this stupid topic anyway? Well, except for Theodore who seemed to be natural and Hermione who was studying day and night for this course apparently.

And well, who had the time to study, when you had to take care of a child day and night?! If he wanted to study as much as Hermione would, next to taking care of Harry… he probably had to ignore sleep for an entire school year to catch up to this stupid topic.

Speaking of… “Hey Harry” Draco walked across the room to where Harry sat down in their favorite secret location. “Hermione told me to give a message.”

Draco’s ward frowned but shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, what is it?”

“They were looking for you. They being Hermione and – Ron.” He decided to call him his actual name for whatever reason.

Harry seemed to be waiting for more and shook his head. “That’s all?”

“Yup. They said you’ll know what it means” Pansy said when he sat down next to Harry, picking up a book uninterested. "So... do you know what it means?"

“I have no idea what it means. I’ll ask her this afternoon.” Harry laughed and shook his head.

“Maybe that was what they wanted to achieve?” Theodore asked. “Get Harry to talk to them again? I would probably do the same.”

Millicent chuckled and shook her head. “Theo, you would come up with some absolutely confusing secret code that beside you nobody could get through and then be pissed when nobody asks you about it.”

Draco laughed over Theodore’s pout and Harry threw a pillow at his head, which made the older Slytherin throw every available pillow back at Draco’s ward with some magical spell. And that ended in quite a lot of laughter before Transfiguration. At least Draco could go there happy.


	62. Chapter 62

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I have a day off, surprisingly (yes, it really is surprising, I had to work all the other 'free' days), I have decided to give you this chapter!
> 
> Year 5 is a little difficult for me, I love the book (except for one specific person we all know), but I am devestated by Sirius. Anyway, I have decided not to spend too much in this age, since I think Harry has a lot of difficult emotions running through his mind. The next chapter goes a little deeper into that. For now, I have decided to stay on the fluff side, while diving only a little into the other thing.

Sunday evening. Draco had always hated this time. It meant something like dead hope: the weekend was over and another full week was ahead of them. And the longer he stayed at Hogwarts the more he realized that he wasn’t interested in anything the magical world had to offer him. While all his friends already seemed to have an idea of what they wanted to do… he just kept sitting in all the classes, helping Harry with spells, potions, information he hadn’t yet remembered and… did nothing.

In a way, his life seemed to be in an eternal Sunday evening. The fun, adrenalin filled parts were over and now it was important he faced real life again.

Well, he wasn’t as lucky as his friends: Theodore had written an additional essay about the laws for magical beasts and it had been so good that somehow, it had made its way into the Prophet! He had gotten a few offers to work as an adviser in several different places, ranging from low to high and he was currently looking through all of them, deciding his future. Millicent had gotten an offer to work in France in a private school for magical and non-magical children, which she had accepted without a second thought. Blaise had decided to go on a different route and was looking through beat-up Quidditch teams which he could purchase and then win over the world with. He had already thought about asking Ginny to join as a seeker or chaser or actually just any part she wanted.

And well, Pansy had two days ago, gotten a letter from the Ministry itself, stating how they wanted to reform the place and that with her help and a Muggleborn witch, they should figure out how to accomplish a functioning Ministry for all wizards and witches. Nobody had questioned who the Muggleborn witch was… Hermione had come to visit them about two hours later, telling them that she had in fact asked them to get Pansy for the job.

That only left him. Draco, the former pureblood Death Eater, who of course hadn’t gotten a job offer. Who would ever hire him?!

Draco lay on the couch, knees bent, feet on the sofa and looked at the ceiling, deep in though. And yes, they were a little depressing. But he honestly didn’t care about that. This year should just end and he just wanted to… do nothing?

Before he could fall into a somewhat deep depression, the couch seemed to get heavier and he turned his head, to face Harry.

“Are you okay, Dray?” his ward asked, slightly worried.

Draco smiled and nodded. “Just a few heavy life questions. You’ll get them once you’re older.”

Harry snorted. “We’re the same age. Apparently.”

Sitting back up, Draco tied his hair back and turned to his ward. “And how’s your life going?”

“Pretty good. I found Pansy making out with Neville again and I jumped out at Ron who’s currently hating me to his core” Harry grinned and explained why he thought so: “He let his potion’s vial of whatever he was doing for his potion’s project fall. So, I see how that wasn’t all that nice from me…”

Draco shook his head. “Harry, please tell me, you at least informed Severus about that.”

Nodding, Harry grinned. “Of course! Right after I accidentally charged into the wrong room and saw Blaise and Millicent fighting with some made-up spells.”

“You’re just making this up, bear.” Draco grinned and shook his head over how Harry seemed to be so much happier right now. After what had happened last week, he was incredibly glad to see Harry that way. He was eating again, though not as much as he had wanted to. But a small victory was still a victory. 

Harry shrugged his shoulders, grinning from ear to ear. “I think it’s helping me a lot that you’ve helped me with the Patronus. Sometimes, I see Dementors everywhere I go. And I just get my Patronus and it tells me, no: I’m safe. So, I’m feeling quite okay.”

“That is very good to hear!”

Draco smiled at Harry. Yes, Harry had come a long way. On Saturday morning, he had suddenly stopped doing anything, called for his Patronus and freaked out over a shadow in the corner. It had kept going for almost twenty four hours, until the paranoia had finally stopped and he had turned back into a somewhat happy Harry.

Everyone had been worried about his mental health. And Draco was happy that his ward had another session with the mental healer (whatever the name was again) on Monday. 

Suddenly, the door opened and Harry jumped up and hid behind the couch, while Draco frowned and looked from the door back to where Harry had hidden. When he finally turned to the entrance, he found the reason as to why Harry had suddenly decided to not let himself show.

Pansy had brought in two slimy looking Slytherins. Blaise and Millicent were covered in green glue like material and it kept dripping from their skins. It looked as if they were highly poisonous and well, their glares could definitely kill.

“Draco, where’s Harry?” Pansy asked and sighed, looking at the others.

“I don’t know” Draco answered, definitely not giving away his ward. “What in Merlin’s name happened?”

It was hard to keep a straight face. And not only had he problems with it, as he saw Pansy concentrating very much on not bursting out laughing. Honestly, even Blaise and Millicent had, when they weren’t dripping green stuff onto the floor, a weak grin on their faces.

The door to the Chamber of Secrets opened and Theodore walked out, frowning at his friends. “Who let the Hydra into the Common Room?” he asked with a lopsided grin. “I mean, we are snakes and green _is_ our house color, but this just looks as if you’re still looking for Hercules.”

“Theo, nobody liked your Greek mythology!” Pansy rolled her eyes, but a small smirk slipped up. However, when she turned back to the green Slytherins, her facial expression was back under control.

“Harry charmed us and the only way to stop it, would be if Harry would cancel the spell or if we _head_ to Madam Pomfrey, but we’re not going there” Millicent explained and called out: “Harry, we know you’re here!”

Magic rushed through the air and suddenly, the green glue stopped and they seemed to be back to their normal self. Pansy chuckled, along with Theodore.

Blaise simply shook his head. “You’re not off the hook, Harry! I will make sure to hex you with something once I see you again.”

“You haven’t successfully managed to hex Harry in… ever!” Draco pointed out and grinned over Blaise’s annoyed expression, while he heard a giggle behind the couch. Apparently, his ward thought the exact same.

While Blaise sat down on the couch and grabbed his long forgotten essay to get some work done before the night ended, Pansy had found Harry. She winked at him and that was literally all it took for him to realize that even though Blaise threatened to hex him, she would probably protect her until her dying breath.

She definitely would, Draco was sure.

Draco’s friends sat down on the couch again, Harry accompanying them. As Draco’s ward sat down between Pansy and Draco, he leaned forward to get a book that was lying on top of his parchment tower. How one could be so messy, was beyond Draco’s understanding. At least that was what he liked to tell himself…

“Harry, what is that?” Pansy suddenly spoke up and Draco frowned looking to where she was pointing. Was there another scar or something that appeared out of nowhere?

“What?” Harry seemed equally as confused as Draco felt. He looked at his hand and Draco noticed his fear which he then did hide expertly. He also hid his hand quickly. “Nothing.”

Everyone sitting on their hidden spot looked at Harry, knowing that he was going back to his actual fourth year behavior. It was however Theodore who spoke up: “Even though your Gryffindor friends would have believed you now, we don’t. What is it?”

“Honestly, it’s nothing. It’ll go away.” Harry sighed and rolled his eyes.

Draco was not going to let that happen and he cast the spell Madam Pomfrey had taught him when Harry was a toddler. It stopped his constant growing. Harry seemed to have felt the magic surrounding him, as he actually glared at Draco. Yet, it seemed to be more a silent scream for help – in Draco’s eyes.

“Harry, _show us_!” Pansy demanded.

As if Harry knew there was no point in keeping something from Pansy, he sighed and showed his hand. At first, Draco didn’t see anything different, however, Millicent leaned closer and had apparently seen something.

“By Merlin, what is that?!” she pointed to an actually red scar on the back of Harry’s hand.

Now, Draco could see it as well. It was a whole sentence… scarified into his skin! Draco held his breath, before reading it out loud: “ _I must not tell lies_. What does that mean, Harry?”

Before Harry could answer, Pansy asked a question of her own: “When did that happen?”

“It’s nothing…” Harry shook his head, trying to get his hand back out of Pansy’s grasps. She was not letting go, simply looked at him, as if he had lost his mind. Or maybe she had lost it.

“It is something, Harry and we’re going to Madam Pomfrey, right now!” Draco stated and got up. This also brought Pansy back out of her trans-like state and she got up as well.

She nodded vigorously and basically pulled Harry with her. “Hell yes we are!”

Harry didn’t say much more, but he was willingly following them. Well, he didn’t try to get out of Pansy’s grasps, whether or not that was a good thing… was debatable. Once they had reached the infirmary, Madam Pomfrey seemed just as surprised, confused and angry that he hadn’t gone to visit her.

Harry simply shrugged, as he had apparently been dealing with a few things. And this scar had according to Madam Pomfrey been there for a few hours. Luckily, they had visited Madam Pomfrey early enough and she could heal it. Well, it was a magical scar, so there would be a scar remaining, however, not the sentence, but simply a somewhat giggly line. She then canceled the spell Draco had cast upon Harry, so he was once again growing in his fast rate again.

“Harry, do you want to tell us how this thing happened?” Pansy asked while Madam Pomfrey walked back to the desk to quite probably get something else. Draco turned to look at Harry and saw him chewing on his lower lip. He seemed to be deep in thought, almost battling with himself to say something.

In the end, he nodded weakly. “I was constantly in detention in fifth year, do you remember?” he asked and Draco nodded once. He’d had his fun chasing around Harry and getting him into trouble. Mostly because Harry had been so secretive.

Pansy was also nodding and she placed a calming hand on Harry’s arm, as if she also realized that he was about to freak out. Harry smiled tiredly at her and sat up properly in his bed.

“Well, Umbridge made me write lines. With a bloodquill.”

“No!” Pansy jumped up and stared at Harry as if he had lost his mind. Even Draco widened his eyes and was at a loss for words. Bloodquills had been stated illegal after the law of 1974, where a pureblood patriarch had used it to torture his entire family. Before, they had been very helpful if you were in combat and had no actual time to write your last will. Every soldier, every wizard in danger had kept a bloodquill just in case one needed to quickly rewrite his or her will, before one was killed.

Harry chuckled softly. “Don’t freak out, guys. It’s not even a bad thing!”

Pansy shook her head. “It’s illegal, Harry! Especially if she used that in detention.”

Draco’s ward only shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not as if I can do anything against that.”

Before Draco could even say something, Harry shrugged his shoulders and smirked. “It’s not like Umbridge already is in Azkaban for her crimes against Muggle-born children and it’s not like she’s going to stay there until she dies.”

Pansy laughed, though it was a little careful and Draco nodded weakly. It still wasn’t something that he wanted his ward to have. Yet, the scar remained and the memory of what it meant as well. There was nothing that could change that.

When Madam Pomfrey came back and gave Harry some potions to take, Pansy sat down on the chair next to Harry again. Something had changed with Harry’s demeanor. Only when the mediwitch went back to write a few sentences on a parchment, he looked at Draco and it actually seemed sad.

“Draco, I feel responsible for… everything” Harry finally admitted.

“You are not responsible, Harry. What has you this guilty?” Draco smiled, hoping it seemed trustworthy and that Harry would continue talking. Why would he think he was responsible? And what meant ‘everything’?!

Harry sighed and shook his head. “I think fifth year is going to suck. And I’m constantly afraid that people ignore me for some reason.”

“Oh darling, we would never do that!” Pansy smiled at him and rubbed his back, which made Harry smile weakly.

“Other than that, Harry, our entire school carrier sucked” Draco answered and offered a weak chuckle. “But it’s a good year for friends and…”

“Enemies” Harry interrupted, weakly grinning at Draco. Pansy chuckled, while Draco rolled his eyes and Madam Pomfrey finally came back and told them they were free to leave for tonight.


	63. Chapter 63

> Dear Draco,
> 
> I am really sorry for having been unable to write a full letter in the past few weeks. Life has gotten rather busy and we are still cleaning the house James gave me. Luckily, we’re almost done.
> 
> It’s good to hear that you’re doing fine and that Harry’s good as well. There are a lot of things I also didn’t know about. The scar on his hand being one of these things. I think Harry used to try and go through everything life threw at him alone and only got help from Hermione and Ron, though I am certain this is because Hermione’s rather nosy when it comes to her friends. In a good way.
> 
> I am incredibly happy that you gave Harry an owl, after he lost Hedwig, he was devastated. I think she meant quite a lot to him. And I do actually have a book about owls here that might be of interest to Harry. White barn owls are a very gentle species and they have always somewhat _chosen_ their owners. It sounds as if Harry’s doing a good job with helping him to have some trust into humans again. In a way, it does remind me of how you helped Harry with his trust issues.
> 
> Anyway, I also have an old Transfigurations book around here. It’s a smart move to ask me (not because I know a lot about it), since James and Sirius were both incredibly smart and figured out how to transfigure themselves in third year. I have always admired that. I’ll send it to you with the original notes from both James and Sirius. Maybe once you’re out of Hogwarts, Harry might like to keep it – that’s perfectly okay.
> 
> Once we’re done with the renovations, it would be my honor to invite you to my new home. I’ll send you another owl then. In the mean time, you know it already: I am happy to hear from you and Hogwarts and also about Harry. Thank you for keeping me updated.
> 
> Kind regards, 
> 
> Remus John Lupin

Draco smirked as he snuck past his godfather’s office and into the Common Room, letter in hand. Remus’ owl had found him in the library and he had only then realized how late it was. He had been studying Transfigurations with Hermione, driving her mad with all of his problems and he was sure he had confused her as well in the end. Luckily when he had snuck back, he had not been caught.

So now he was standing in the Common Room, where there was still a fire burning and someone was hard at work. Frowning, Draco turned to look at that black haired boy.

Harry was sitting in the corner at one of the desks. It was long past midnight, books lay everywhere and he continued to study, reading different passages, skipping to other books and sentences, writing things down. Soft classical music was playing in the background, a cup with cold tea sat forgotten between the parchment scrolls and books. A few hours ago, when Pansy had still been awake, she had braided Harry’s hair so it looked a little smoother and wasn’t annoying him. Right now, his braided hair was keeping his eyes free, so he could check different thinks quickly. His hands were tainted with ink and he once again put the quill down onto some parchment, which made it stain the writing as well.

Draco stood there silently, watching his ward cautiously for about fifteen minutes. Something was definitely wrong. Yes, he was a good student and he had somehow managed to get amazing marks on essays even without any help, but this… This wasn’t normal. Even though the picture seemed innocent and absolutely adorable… it was wrong.

Finally, he decided he needed to do something, talk to his ward. While he seemed to happy a few days ago, right now it seemed as if… his heart was broken and he needed to focus on whatever he could so his brain wouldn’t think about it and show him images of what had happened.

“Harry?”

His ward jerked up and the quill fell onto the parchment again, when he turned to face Draco. Even though Draco wanted to look as unbiased as he could, he was still incredibly worried.

Harry rubbed his forehead, accidentally spreading the ink to his head as well. “Hi Dray, why are you still awake?”

Smiling weakly, Draco shook his head. “This is supposed to be my question, Harry. It’s by far past midnight. Why are you still working?”

“I can’t sleep” he simply answered and turned back to his books and parchments.

Draco frowned. “You haven’t even tried today, bear. Why do you think you can’t sleep?” He watched as Harry carefully placed the quill in the ink jar and turned to look at him. All his actions made Draco worry immensely. There must be some kind of memory that was torturing his ward.

Harry sighed, before he seemed to be able to answer. “I don’t even need to try. I know I can’t sleep.”

“Talk to me, Harry. What’s the problem?” Draco sat down on an arm chair crossed-leg and waited for his ward to talk.

The silence that followed was earnest and heavy. Something bad had happened and either Harry wanted to keep it from Draco so he would feel better, or the former Gryffindor was sure he would have nightmares about whatever he wanted to say if he actually did so out loud. And so, the eerie silence almost crushed the darkness in the room.

Finally, Harry seemed to have the courage and power to talk. “It’s Sirius” he said quietly.

When he stayed quiet, Draco was almost about to ask what it was about Sirius, even though he remembered the newspapers where it stated that he had died. However, Harry beat him to it and continued talking.

“He died because of me. I thought he was in danger and it turned out it was a trap for me. And Sirius came to rescue me and… he died.” Harry held his breath, clearly hoping it would keep the tears away. It didn’t.

Draco shook his head; it hurt him seeing his ward like that. And Harry was making himself responsible for his godfather’s death? “Harry, that’s not true! He would have…”

He couldn’t finish, as Harry interrupted him quickly: “I know it’s true, Draco! He came to rescue me and… Bellatrix killed him! He fell through the veil in the Ministry and he… he was just gone!”

“He was gone? Just like that?” Draco frowned. What did the Ministry have there? You fall through something and you’re dead? That didn’t sound… legal.

“Yes, we couldn’t even bury him. There was nothing left of him…” Harry rubbed his forehead again, creating more ink there. “It was my mistake.”

Once again, Draco shook his head. He stayed firmly: “No, Harry. You can’t just blame yourself for…”

And once again, Harry interrupted him, this time he seemed almost angry. “I know what you think, Draco! But the reality is that everything was my mistake! _Everything!_ I was the reason everyone got in danger, I had to start Dumbledore’s Army! When they told me they wanted to go with me, I was okay with it. I was the reason they all went to the Ministry, almost killing everyone in the process. _I am the reason_ Sirius decided to follow me.” Harry stopped talking, inhaling deeply. “And _I am the reason_ ” he was by now really calm and almost seemed as if he had come to peace with what he was saying. However, it sounded also dangerously close to an actual explosion, “that Sirius died.”

Draco didn’t know what else to say. He couldn’t form any decent thoughts. “Harry…”

“Please just let me deal with this alone, Draco. There’s nothing you can do. It’s in the past, everything already happened… I just need to once again find peace with the thought that I am the one who killed Sirius.” Harry turned back to his parchment, grabbing the quill as well and started to write another sentence.

“You didn’t kill him, Harry.”

Harry stared at his parchment, grimly. Without looking up or any action actually, he stated: “I might have as well.” He then turned to face his guardian. “Good night, Draco.”

“Harry, you need to sleep. Come with me, I’ll give you a little Dreamless Sleep, with that you can at least sleep in peace” Draco offered, knowing full well that having to deal with something like that was not going to work if you had to stay awake all night. However, Dreamless Sleep also wasn’t entirely helpful for dealing with something like that. The truth was, nevertheless, that Harry really needed to go to bed.

Well, his ward had other ideas, as he simply shook his head. “I don’t want to sleep, I have so much to do.” He grabbed another book, almost spilling all the ink if Draco hadn’t intervened.

Draco walked closer, crossing his arms and raised his eyebrows. “Harry, I am your Magical Guardian and as such I am telling you to go to bed, take my potion and… sleep!” Draco stated firmly. He didn’t like to take such hard actions, but if Harry wasn’t listening to what he said before, maybe with this, he would do that now.

“Okay, _Merlin_ ” Harry rolled his eyes. “Have it your way. I’m heading to bed. Give me the potion and we can all be happy.” It sounded rather sarcastic.

There was no way Draco would tell his ward to try and rephrase that. He had won; Harry was taking the potion and he could sleep. That was all Draco wanted for tonight. Tomorrow was Saturday, so maybe they could do something together. Most likely visit a friend and he could maybe talk to Harry. Maybe.

While his ward finally went to bed and almost immediately fell asleep, potion drunken, Draco sat down in his room, grabbing a parchment and a quill and went ahead to write another letter to Remus.

> Dear Remus,
> 
> Thank you so much for the letter and the book! I haven’t really had time to look into it; I’ve been driving Hermione mad with my Transfiguration questioning. She might even fail now that I’ve been confusing her so much.
> 
> I’m actually writing, since Harry’s having a few bad… memories, one could say. They’re about Sirius and how he died. He makes himself responsible for his death and I wondered if maybe you could talk to him, since you were there – I read that in the newspaper. Do you think that would be possible?
> 
> Please let me know, I would like to come by as long as Harry’s memories are still fresh. While you would be talking, I’m very happy to play babysitter and look after Teddy, the picture you’ve sent me is adorable and I had to keep it away from Pansy, because I am sure she would have floo’d right over and tried to abduct him.
> 
> I’m looking forward to hearing from you. And I’m really sorry for waking you up, I’ll tell Cesar to be quiet, but my parent’s owls never are…
> 
> Draco Lucius Malfoy


	64. Chapter 64

It was rather early in the morning, when Draco went and woke up Harry. They had quite a full day ahead of them. Early breakfast in the kitchen and then, Remus had invited them over to their new house. He thought it would help Harry to get to chase a few not really dangerous creatures while they talked. 

Cesar had returned in the middle of the night, probably as a revenge for having woken up Remus, and woke him up as well. They had been welcomed over at nine and no one was awake this early on Saturday, right?

Well, Harry had gone to take a shower, rather miserable, clearly not feeling any better after a night’s sleep. Not that Draco was blaming him.

Harry’d had such a bad childhood, his uncle did unspeakable things to him and then, when Sirius appeared, a person who could take him away from such things… and he died. It must have killed the very last surviving hopes he’d had by that time. If Severus had been able to get him away from Voldemort and then had just died… That would have destroyed Draco as well. He was the only person smart enough to see that the Dark Lord was not the answer.

The two Slytherins ate a quiet meal together and unceremoniously walked towards Hogsmeade to escape the non-apparation rules surrounding the castle. Once they reached the edge, Harry accepted Draco’s arm and they apparated to the outside of Remus’ new home.

Since the last time they had been here, it actually looked rather nice. The garden had been cleaned and even though it was still far too early to plant anything, Remus seemed to have started to plan things out.

As soon as they landed, the door to the house was opened and Remus appeared looking at them. In his arms was a wide awake Teddy, while Draco’s former professor looked rather tired. Draco felt that.

“Good morning Remus, you seem to have had a nice night” Draco smirked and Remus sighed, shaking his head.

“If I had the strength left, I would probably hunt you around the garden, but…” he yawned, while Draco chuckled.

Even Harry had to hide a smirk which seemed to almost escape him. “Hi Remus. Nice to see you again.”

Remus turned to Harry and smiled now as well. “Good to see you as well, pup. You look very different from the last time I saw you.”

Harry chuckled. “And when was that? When I was four years old?”

“Probably” Remus nodded. “Is it just me or are you actually growing to be taller than before?”

“It’s probably just in your sleep-deprived state” Harry answered and dodged Remus wanting to push him a few steps back.

Draco shook his head, while Harry laughed. “If you’re about to attack Harry, how about I’ll look after your son and you can chase my ward around the garden as long as you want to?”

“What? No!” Harry called out, when Remus chuckled and agreed. He handed over Teddy, who looked at Draco with wide eyes, before running after Harry who had taken off as soon as Remus had agreed to the trade.

Smirking, Draco sat down in a chair outside, placing Teddy on his lap so he could watch his father and Harry goofing off in the garden. Remus’ son was just as happy as Harry had been and he apparently wasn’t afraid of new people as he soon started talking – or whatever these noises where that he made.

Teddy suddenly pointed at Remus, looking back Draco and said “Dada!”

“Yes, Teddy, this is your dad! Good job in recognizing him!” Draco praised and chuckled. “And who’s that?” He pointed at Harry.

“Dada?” Teddy asked, before seemingly realizing that this was not his father. “Fend!”

Draco frowned. “Fend? Oh, friend. Yes, Harry is a friend.”

Teddy squealed and he laughed when Harry dodged another attack and his father fell into a pile of leaves still left over from the autumn. Apparently, Harry had heard Teddy squeal since he looked over and grinned from ear to ear.

“I am invincible!” he called out, throwing both hands as high into the air as he could, when Remus actually tackled him and threw him to the ground. Teddy was now laughing loudly, while Harry tried to get away from Remus.

Draco tried to keep it together as long as he could, but with a laughing Teddy on his lap and Harry who was also between laughing and fighting, it was impossible to stay cool and collected. He chuckled and shook his head.

It seemed as if Harry actually wasn’t getting free. He looked over to Draco and called: “Help, Draco! I’m being tortured over here!” He squirmed and laughed when Remus seemed to tickle him.

This made Draco laugh and he grinned, seeing Harry to happy. “I can’t, Harry. I’m being imprisoned myself!”

“That’s the power of the Lupins!” Remus exclaimed and held Draco’s ward back from rolling out of his clutches. He then got up, laughing as well, helping Harry back to his feet.

Draco chuckled. This had been the right idea. Harry needed to talk to Remus, or just be around him, someone who knew his godfather and someone who he trusted unconditionally. The two of them trailed back towards Draco and Remus put an arm around Harry in a rather fatherly fashion, which only confirmed Draco’s theory more.

“Let’s head inside, where it’s a little warmer” he offered. “The kitchen is creature free and the living room as well. There are a few minor ones in the bedroom and my future office.”

“We could hunt them down!” Harry suggested and his eyes were glowing now. “And… and throw them out! They might like the forest more than your house?”

Remus chuckled. “Unfortunately, they do like it dry and somewhat warm. And this house…”

Harry interrupted him, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, summer is coming.”

When both men stood close to Draco, Teddy squealed again and Harry turned to look at him. He grinned broadly and knelt down in front of him. “Hello there! I’m Harry. What’s your name?”

Teddy looked at Harry with wide eyes, before he answered. “Ally!”

“That’s _my_ name!” Harry laughed. “Is your name also Harry? What a coincidence! Nice to meet you, Harry!”

“Nooooo” Teddy laughed and shook his head. “Eddy!” He then pointed at Harry and grinned. “Ally!” and then he looked at his father and squealed. “Dada!”

Remus chuckled and nodded. “He’s a really fast learner!”

Draco leaned forward and frowned at the toddler on his laps. “And who am I then, mister?”

Teddy looked at him, incredibly confused as if he had thought there were only three people present, including him. And so he stared at Draco for a while, clearly thinking and chewing his fingers, when he lit up. “Ecco!”

“Okay” Draco laughed. “So, we have Ally, Eddy, Dada and Ecco. We sound like an old-time boy band.” Harry started to laugh, which Draco was incredibly happy about. He caught Remus looking at him for a second, clearly knowing what he was trying to do and their former professor then motioned them to walk inside.

“I have a very nice big kitchen here, let’s sit down and have some hot chocolate, before we start going out for a hunt, right Harry?” Remus asked.

“Absolutely!”

They walked in to the house in front of Draco, who carried Teddy with him. The toddler had suddenly started to talk about all kinds of things again, that Draco couldn’t understand. Yet, he still listened and pretended to know exactly what was going on.

Children were the cutest thing there was. And Teddy also belonged to the group of absolutely gorgeous, happy children. Much like Harry had when he had been a child.

The kitchen was huge! And almost completely round. In the middle was the stove with pots and pans above it hanging down. The ceiling was so high that Draco’s steps echoed from the walls. And the windows were so huge that there was so much natural light in here, there was absolutely no need for any light.

Draco sat down on an old looking table, placing Teddy in his high chair where he started talking about everything. So while Remus prepared the hot chocolate, Harry eagerly helping, Draco listened to the two of them talking about all kinds of stuff. School, potions, Remus’ monthly problem and his hopes that Teddy wouldn’t get his condition. However, nothing had happened so far and apparently, Nymphadora was prepared every full moon should something happen. They also talked about a few memories which Harry hadn’t quite figured out and ended their talk with some memories of when Remus had been their professor.

“Actually, that reminds me, I still have this stupid Boggart in my study. I hadn’t had any time throwing it out. Maybe I need to ask the Ministry to send someone over. It’s getting quite annoying with all the creatures in here” Remus sighed.

“We could do it together” Harry offered. “I mean, three powerful wizards are probably too much for a Boggart that hasn’t seen any magic for quite some time.”

Remus frowned. “You could be right… But I need Teddy to be safe. And sleeping. I’d rather not have him witness the chaos that comes with Boggarts.”

Teddy looked up when his father said his name and he beamed. “Eddy!” he clapped his hands, while Draco chuckled and held a spoon with some mashed carrots closer. As if there was some unspoken bond between them, Teddy opened his mouth and ate it happily.

“Draco, I officially despise you right now.”

“What did I do?” Draco looked up confused, while he fed Teddy another spoon full of carrot-puree. Remus shook his head, while Harry was uncontrollably laughing behind their former teacher’s back and almost couldn’t stop, when he poured the hot chocolate into three cups.

Remus rolled his eyes, grabbing a cup for himself, when Harry grabbed the other two, bringing Draco one as well. They sat down at the table, where Draco was sitting. “How can you make Teddy eat carrots?! He never ate them when I try and give them to him!”

Draco chuckled. “Experience. Harry was a particularly picky eater when he was smaller.”

“No, I wasn’t!” Harry rolled his eyes. “I eat everything!”

Snorting, Draco shook his head. “ _Now_ you’re eating everything. As a toddler you only ate apples. Anything with apples. So I usually tried to get him to eat something else, it never worked.” Draco grinned and looked at Remus. “It works with your son, though.”

“You need to show me this trick!”

Draco promised to do so and soon the discussion went to other topics again and after they drank everything, Harry and Remus went upstairs to go and hunt smaller creatures. That only left Draco and Teddy and the two of them spent their time in the living room playing with Teddy’s toys.

Once it was close to lunch, Draco went to the kitchen with Teddy and they prepared the meal – spaghetti and tomato sauce. Well, Teddy told him some kind of story and Draco listened, asking questions and maybe starting new story threads, which Teddy seemed to like.

When Harry and Remus entered the kitchen again, it seemed as if Harry had found some kind of peace. Apparently, they had talked while hunting creatures and Remus seemed to have been able to help Harry.

Lunch then happened without any major problems and afterwards, Teddy fell asleep. Remus placed the spell on his bed that Draco had showed him. The one where you could hear Teddy cry but he couldn’t hear anything outside of his soundproof bubble.

“Let’s get this Boggart?” Harry asked and smirked, when Remus nodded and made the crib float up the stairs.

Draco sighed. He hadn’t really liked the Boggart in their third year and now they once again had to go and get one? Great. Well, he could say he didn’t feel comfortable fighting another creature, but… he didn’t really want to disappoint someone. And maybe it was time to figure out what his greatest fear as an adult was. Child him thought taking the Dark Mark which he had seen on his father was his biggest nightmare – boy had he been wrong…

As they entered the study, the wardrobe shook as if it was alive and Harry actually chuckled. “It’s like Beauty and the Beast.” When he caught Draco’s confused looks, he elaborated. “A Muggle fairytale, Draco. Blaise told me about it when he had been researching Muggle culture for Muggle studies.”

“And why exactly is it like Beauty and the Beast?” Draco frowned.

Surprisingly, Remus was the one who answered. “The furniture was alive in this story. And this wardrobe does look rather lively.”

He sighed, placing the crib in the far end, so Teddy couldn’t accidentally be hurt and he pointed his wand at the furniture. He looked at Harry and smiled. “Would you like to start?”

“Absolutely. If Boggarts still are Dementors, Draco even helped with the Patronus.” Harry grinned taking out his wand.

When Remus turned around to Draco, smirking, he rolled his eyes. “Before you ask, Remus” he started, “I even gave Harry chocolate afterwards.”

“Good job, then!” Remus chuckled. “Ready?” He turned back to Harry, who nodded.

The door opened with an almost comical sound and out of the shadows, a figure appeared. Out of the wardrobe walked Hermione. Draco frowned and it seemed as if the other two people did so as well. Hermione shouldn’t be Harry’s greatest fear, right?

“You’re Slytherin!” she grimaced and looked him up and down, clearly disgusted. She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, standing there as if she wanted him to apologize for that.

A very soft “Oh” escaped Harry as if he just realized what was going on. Draco was still unsure of what was happening.

Finally, she continued, walking closer to him. “How can you expect me to stay your friend?! You’re with the enemy!”

She transformed into Weasley, and he shook his head as well. “Slytherin, really Harry? There’s not a wizard or witch that turned out bad. I thought you knew better than this.”

And the final transformation was Draco. Widening his eyes, Draco found an almost exact copy of himself standing there, scoffing at Harry. “You think you’re so high and mighty, now don’t you? You’re not worth _anything_!”

The creature opened its mouth again, when Harry shook his head. “Yes, thanks, I think I’ve had enough of this.” He rolled his eyes, pointed his wand at Draco’s mirror and loudly said “Ridikkulus!” It transformed into a Russian Doll, falling over and opening itself to reveal another smaller woman inside.

Harry started laughing and Draco chuckled as well, while even Remus laughed over how clumsy this thing was. Remus stepped in front of the Boggart and it quickly transformed into little Teddy… transforming into a werewolf.

“Unsurprising, really” Remus commented. “Ridikkulus!” The wolf was now wearing a red cape and carried a basket full of bread.

Laughing, Harry pointed at it. “Little Red Riding Hood! But messed up!” The second comment, he almost didn’t get out, as he was laughing so much. It really seemed to mess up the Boggart as it seemed to be much weaker than before.

Draco inhaled deeply and walked forward, wand ready. The creature looked at Draco, before changing. It transformed into… himself. Wand in hand, proudly standing over Dumbledore. It wordlessly transformed into him standing over Harry, then morphing into Pansy, Hermione, Luna…

Shaking his head, he raised his wand. “Ridikkulus!” He called out and it transformed into what seemed to be a copy of the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, where Draco would riase his wand and the thing underneath would change, such as a rabbit being pulled out of hat, only it was by its tail and not the ears. And every other slightly fucked up things for a cheap laugh.

Harry apparently didn’t care, as he was laughing loudly and the Boggart exploded with a loud snap. Luckily, Teddy was in his soundproof bubble, so he didn’t wake up.

When they walked down, Remus waited for Harry to pass them, Teddy in his arms, and turned to face Draco. “I’m pretty sure Harry’s not the only one who has some problems to work on, Draco.”

“I know. I’m trying to find a Mind Healer for myself, but the Malfoy name and association doesn’t really help” Draco sighed. In reality, he was just too afraid to start looking. What if people would say exactly that?

Remus nodded. “I have an old friend who doesn’t think about people in good or bad categories, Draco. Would you like me to ask him whether or not he’s got time for another client?”

Draco frowned, but nodded then. “That would be very kind of you.”


	65. Chapter 65

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a dialogue heavy chapter, so stay with me ;) Dialogues are just as important as action and I think the discussions are needed here.
> 
> Also, I am pretty sure that you might have guessed this, but the story just got more chapters. I can’t end in a few chapter xD So the final chapter count is 86 (depending on how much you guys inspire me, I might add another chapter, but I think I’ve included all the things I wanted to in these 86 chapters).
> 
> And since I am now writing a note at the beginning, I would also like to **thank everyone** showing interest in this story by commenting or giving kudos or just reading it up until now. I’m happy I can give you a little happiness through this story. And you give me a smile every time I read a comment or see that people gave kudos, so thank you so much! Enjoy the chapter!

“Draco!”

Draco awoke from someone shaking his shoulders and he opened his eyes to find Harry sitting on the floor, back at his bed, looking rather disheveled. Rubbing his eyes, Draco turned to his side and looked at his ward. It was another Sunday, making him… another year older. Damn, sixteen.

“What’s going on, Harry?”

Harry sighed and winced slightly. “I can’t sleep. Well, no I’ve slept, but I had nightmares. I… I think I want to talk about them.” Harry stopped talking and turned to look at him, slightly flustered. “Sorry for waking you up. I have been sitting here for literally twenty minutes, debating whether or not I should wake you up and…”

Draco quickly placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder, interrupting his speech, which was build to make him look as if he had something extremely bad. “Harry, stop it. You can always wake me up, even if you don’t want to talk about your nightmares.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to feel guilty.”

Chuckling, Draco shook his head. “I wish.” He grinned at Harry’s outraged expression. “No, I’m saying it, because it’s important to me that you know you have friends who care about you.”

Now, even Harry grinned, though he did look slightly tired. “Ouch! Draco, that makes it sound as if Ron or Hermione or even Pansy and Theodore don’t care about me!” Harry really couldn’t stop himself from grinning. That was just fine to Draco.

“Well, I don’t see them here.” Draco answered and winked at him. “Now, what’s going on, b… Harry?”

After a while, where Harry seemed to struggle with where to start, he finally figured out what he wanted to say: “Okay, so… it’s really complicated, so maybe you need to bear with me…”

“Harry, tell me. I can understand complicated shit.” That made Draco stop quickly and he sighed. “I still don’t understand how I’ve decided to take Transfigurations, though. If it has to do with Transfigurations, you might have to be patient with me.”

Harry now laughed. He shook his head, but couldn’t contain a grin: “It actually has something to do with Divination.”

Draco groaned. “Oh Merlin, no!” he joked, before turning serious again: “Harry. I’m okay with it. Whatever you want to talk about, I won’t judge.”

“My parents went into hiding due to a… prophecy.” Harry sighed and started to cite the prophecy from memory as if he had said it a thousand times before: “And neither must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.”

Draco was quiet for a few moments, until he frowned and shook his head. “It’s far too early for something like that, Harry. What is that even supposed to mean?”

Nodding, Harry sighed. “It was my destiny to either kill him or be killed by him. Dumbledore heard it and once Severus found out my mother had… well me, he asked him to hide my family.” Harry seemed to want to add something else, which he then apparently dropped, before he continued. “The prophecy also said that ‘the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal’ which… yeah” gesturing at his face, Harry rolled his eyes.

“So you’re telling me the Dark Lord went after you because of a prophecy? What kind of a shitty idea is that?”

Harry grinned. “Right? Someone who’s afraid of losing power to an _infant_ , should at least know that you can kill a child without using magic… Throw me out the window and done.”

Draco laughed and shook his head. “That was absolutely not what I meant.” Finally, Draco felt as if the fatigue had somewhat worn off and he sat up and rubbed his eyes again. “So, you dreamt about the prophecy?”

“No, I dreamt about Voldemort’s life” Harry explained.

“His life? Wait, you knew things about his life?” Now Draco was intrigued. He had always wanted to know more about the Dark Lord, but nobody had ever said something or mentioned what he had been like before he had turned into the power hungry person he had been at the end of his life.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Yes, I think Dumbledore made it his life goal to find out every ounce of information there was about him. And he then showed them to me. It was creepy to see him as a child, Dray.”

“Oh my! What was he like?”

“I could tell he was going to dark places. He said he could make people do bad things. He could speak to snakes and that he could hurt the other children.”

“And Dumbledore didn’t see the signs?” Draco shook his head. He crossed his legs and now sat Indian style on his bed. Harry still had his back to him, it almost looked as if that made it easier for him to talk about his nightmares.

Harry rubbed his forehead. “Maybe he thought Hogwarts would help him somehow contain his powers. Or maybe even give him a purpose? Did you know he was conceived by his mother using a love potion on his father? His mother was a Gaunt.”

“Stop, hold on, you’re just dumping information on me, right now! No one can… holy shit! I am utterly confused and speechless right now.” Draco widened his eyes and shook his head. That was by far too much information!

Harry chuckled and he bent his knees, putting his arms around them. “Thank you! So, I’m not the only person. Dumbledore wanted me to understand him.”

Draco nodded. “Makes sense to me. What was the scariest thing that happened there? You don’t… You don’t have to tell me, sorry.” He quickly apologized. Harry said he had nightmares about that. It probably wasn’t the best way to make him relive them now…

“Don’t worry, Dray. It’s all fine” Harry leaned back. His warm skin was now against Draco’s legs, his head rested against Draco’s lap and Draco massaged his scalp softly. It was quiet for a while and Draco thought with Harry’s closed eyes that he might have fallen asleep, when he finally spoke up. His eyes were still closed and he seemed awfully relaxed. “It was when I saw a memory from Slughorn and he had changed it. And then seeing his actual memory. Just the changes there were scary. Tom Riddle was so calm and collected.”

“Really? He was totally crazy when I met him.” Draco frowned, while he continued rubbing his ward’s head.

Harry hummed. “Well, between Tom Riddle, Voldemort and the Dark Lord, there are a lot of different things happening.” He stifled a yawn. “Anyway, I’m sorry for waking you up, but I think I need to go back to bed.” He smiled and got up.

Draco chuckled. “Once again; don’t worry about waking me up, Harry. Sleep tight, now.”

“Thank you, Magical Guardian!” Harry grinned, before heading back to his own room and left Draco by his own.

Chuckling, Draco shook his head. He waited a few more minutes, before he got up, quietly looked into Harry’s room and found him in deep slumber again. He then took his favorite green jumper, his trousers and walked to Severus. That was something he needed to discuss with another person, and Severus was definitely the best choice there was. Surprisingly, Severus was awake, working on a potion with an open door.

Draco leaned at the door and grinned at his godfather, who only looked up once Draco made his presence clear by speaking. “How are you still awake, Sev?”

“Some people use the silence of the night as a creative outlet.” Severus chuckled and beckoned him into the room.

Draco grinned. “Sure thing, what were you actually doing?”

“Sit, Draco. Have a drink with me?”

“Absolutely, Severus. I do need to talk to you either way. A drink is just making this better. And the middle of the night is the best time for that.” Draco sat down at the desk, once again overpopulated by paper.

Severus rummaged through a drawer in a desk and showed him a bottle of whiskey. “I know you don’t like to hear it, but in times like these you resemble your father. I’m sorry, Draco.”

Draco sighed. “Don’t apologize. I recognize it myself as well. I just… He did so many bad things.” He nodded at his godfather’s selection and leaned back in his chair.

“He wanted to protect his family. I tried to help as well, but I did kind of have my own problems. I’m really sorry you got taken in by this mess.” Severus poured some whiskey into the glasses and walked back to the table.

“Don’t apologize, Severus. It’s not as bad as the stuff I’ve just heard from Harry.” Draco sighed, grateful to be able to drink in the middle of the night. And that he wasn’t alone to do so.

Severus raised his eyebrows. “You _just_ heard something? Sounds as if I’m not the only nocturnal person in this castle.”

“Not even by far” Draco grinned, but got serious right after. “Did you know that Dumbledore told… _showed_ Harry all the information he had about the Dark Lord? As in… _everything_! I keep learning new things about Harry and wonder how he’s not more messed up.”

Severus nodded, taking a thoughtful sip. “He’s got a strong soul.”

For quite a while, nobody was speaking, as they simply enjoyed their drinks. In the middle of the night. It was rather strange, but also weirdly comforting. Before Draco finished his drink, Severus started to speak again.

“I believe Dumbledore showed him all the memories so he would be prepared for what would happen in the future. I mean, he is sixteen years old now, right? In sixth year… Dumbledore died. He knew since the beginning of the year that he would die. At least with all the memories given to Harry, someone else could finish what he couldn’t.”

Draco shook his head. “Merlin, I wonder how Harry’s not completely lost his mind.”

“He’s strong, Draco. And I do believe that makes two of you there.”


	66. Chapter 66

Harry was studying with his friends in the library after lunch. Actually, it seemed as if everyone was there: Their group had spread out over three tables. On the first table, Pansy, Neville, Millicent and Finnigan had started to study Herbology, along with Potions, which Draco thought was hilarious, since Finnigan did need to get his potion's talent up to date. On the second table, Ginny, Luna, Harry, Theodore and Hermione were studying DADA, next to Charms. And the third table was used by Weasley, Blaise, Susan Bones and Draco, himself, studying Transfiguration next to Runes. They all had gotten quite a few interested and confused glances; however, nobody had cared enough to say something.

It had been quiet and productive and Draco loved to see his ward surrounded by the people he cared about. Weasley also seemed rather okay with Harry now. Whatever had happened between the two of them… it seemed over. There was some sort of a calm over all of them, which considering everything that had happened here and between all of them… it almost resembled a small wonder.

After almost three hours, Pansy and Harry were the first to break the calm and quiet with getting up almost at the same time.

“I’m having enough!” Harry stated and packed up his things. “I’m going to the lake.”

“Make that two!” Pansy groaned and put her books into her satchel as well.

Neville grinned slightly mischievously. “I thought we were going to look at some more side-effects of the…”

Before he could finish, Pansy placed a quick kiss on his lips and silenced him effectively. “You can continue studying these plants, darling, I will make my escape now, rather than in two hours, when I can’t see people anymore only letters.”

“Have fun then, Pansy” Neville answered and winked at her, when she followed Harry out the door.

Draco also didn’t last much longer. He packed up almost twenty minutes later and yawned, while heading out, waving his study partners goodbye.

He walked through the halls, when a constant picking at the window, made him stop and look at it. There was a black owl sitting at the window, looking at him rather expectantly. And he quickly also realized what was going on with this owl. It was his mother’s owl.

“I wish I could just ignore you” he whispered, not really sure himself whether or not he actually meant the owl or his mother.

When Draco opened the window, Paco flew in and looked at him as if he was in court. “Get off your high horse, Paco” Draco rolled his eyes. “Nobody likes owls like that. Well, mother apparently likes you, so my statement was slightly wrong.”

He stood there with crossed arms, looking at the leg Paco held towards him. There was a letter attached, which he finally freed from the owl. Paco looked at him as if he was expecting something in return. “I’ll use the school owls should I decide to answer the letter” Draco explained and shooed the owl outside again. He stuffed the piece of parchment into his pocket.

It wasn’t fair to the owl, Draco knew that, but he just didn’t want to have any other connection with his family. Without reading the letter, Draco walked into his room, where he placed his satchel and then walked back out towards the lake, where he was sure he would be able to find his ward and Pansy.

Unsurprisingly, Pansy and Harry stood by the lake, playing with rocks, the water or just generally throwing weak spells around.

“Both of you are insane!” Draco called as he walked closer and cautiously created a _protego_ around himself, just in case. He was right to do so, as Pansy just shot a few hexes his way, before realizing that they wouldn’t land.

Harry turned and grinned at Draco. “You need to enjoy life more, Dray! It’s a somewhat beautiful day, the birds are singing, we’re laughing. Life is good!”

Draco chuckled and once he reached his friends, he ruffled through Harry’s hair, which made him shake his head and the end result was a head of crazy hair. Did Harry just actually say that? That was amazing! How far had they come for the former Gryffindor to say something like that!

“Well, I’m glad you think life’s good!” Draco stated. His ward saying that after what he went through meant more to him than anything else. Especially with what his relatives had done to him.

Harry suddenly charged at Draco, which made him jump up and rush to the side, grinning broadly. He did however not see his ward running back at him again and they tumbled to the floor, while Pansy laughed.

The two adults (or whatever they were) continued playing around with Harry. Just as it had happened before: water, jinxes, running. All of this stopped, once Harry found something on the floor.

“Hey Draco, there’s a letter addressed to you!” he said, holding it out towards him.

Unluckily, Pansy caught the handwriting and widened her eyes. “Your mother? Draco, you need to look at it. Maybe she’s telling you your father died in Azkaban.”

Draco sighed and accepted the letter. “I can’t believe that this statement would actually make me look at the letter now. That would be the best possible letter I could receive. How sad it that?”

“That’s family” Harry shrugged his shoulders. Draco shared a look with Pansy, before turning to the parchment and opening it.

> _Dear Draco_
> 
> I am writing you today in hopes of repairing what little relationship we have left in this family. Your father is in Azkaban and it is highly probable that he will stay there until the end of his life for the crimes he has committed. My own family isn’t functioning much better as most people have either died or are staying in Azkaban as well.
> 
> The war has certainly had its toll on everyone, especially you. I am sorry if the trust you had in your family was buried once your father invited the Dark Lord into this house. So, I am hoping we could meet and maybe have our relationship back to a somewhat normal mother-son-relationship.
> 
> Since I am still currently on house arrest, I would love to have you over for dinner tonight at seven. I truly hope you can at least forgive me for not being able to protect you from the horrors of the war.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> _Narcissa Druella Malfoy_

Draco sighed and showed the letter to his two friends. Pansy read over it, carefully and even Harry had narrowed eyes as he looked at it.

“Pansy, you’re the expert here, what should I do?”

His best friend shook her head. When they were younger, Pansy had a lot of letters which she wrote to Draco’s mother. Narcissa had always wanted a girl and well… Pansy became her second unofficial child. Draco was sure that she knew his mother better than he knew her.

For now, it seemed as if even Pansy was unable to place the letter. “I don’t know, Dray. It does look sincere, but then again…”

“… it’s my mother” Draco finished her sentence and sighed. “She will always be planning on doing something else.”

Harry frowned as well now. “I mean, if she _is_ planning something, you could just walk out, right?” he was quiet for a second before he sighed. “No, that’s not proper etiquette.”

Draco chuckled. “I honestly couldn’t care less about proper etiquette with my mother. She’s easily…” he hesitated.

“You can say it, Draco” Pansy smirked. “She’s crazy!” she said to Harry and sighed. “She is Bella’s sister for a reason.”

Harry’s expression turned dark for a second, when Pansy mentioned the person responsible for his godfather’s death. Even though she hadn’t cast the death spell, Sirius hadn’t seen her spell coming and had therefore been unable to react.

As fast as his expression had changed, Harry was back to normal within a few seconds. “I mean, family is family, right? If I had the chance to talk to my family… or maybe start with my cousin, I think I would do so.”

“You’re saying I should go then?” Draco sighed and looked at Pansy to also get her opinion.

She nodded. “It’s family, Dray. And don’t worry about Harry; I’ll take care of him.”

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes: “I can take care of myself, thank you.” He must have seen Pansy pretending to be hurt as he quickly added: “But of course, Pansy can be my temporary Magical Guardian.”

Draco chuckled and shook his head. “Alright. I’ll go get dressed for this special dinner invitation.” He rolled his eyes, while Pansy patted his shoulders.

“You’ll get through it, Draco.”

Harry nodded as well. “Stay strong like a bamboo in the wind.”

“Doesn’t make sense” Draco answered, though he couldn’t keep a grin from his face, which was probably the main thing Harry had wanted to achieve from it, as he shrugged his shoulders.

And so, Draco went and got changed into a thin black jumper, equally as elegant and black jeans and to add some color, he put on a green scarf. Sighing, he looked at himself in the mirror and after his assessment, he shook his head, walked out of Hogwarts and apparated to the Manor, once he had reached the outside of the non apparition ward.

His home looked… normal. Still cold, unwanted to all kinds of visitors and it still seemed to have an air of death around it. Great thing to get a relationship back on track.

Draco rolled his eyes and entered the living room, where his mother rushed towards him with a huge smile. “Draco, it’s good to see you!” She kissed his cheek and Draco stepped back again, looking at her.

She was wearing a silver dress with some sort of train fluttering in the air. “Mother. You look well.” Too well, in his opinion. Too well dressed. Shouldn’t this just be a family dinner?

His mother chuckled. “Thank you. Oh, but what are you wearing, Draco? That won’t do for tonight. Please, go to your room and change into what I have placed there.”

Sighing, Draco nodded. “Of course, Mother.” He had seen this coming ever since he had seen how elegant his mother had been dressed and even though he had tried to be somewhat elegant with his black clothes… it wasn’t a real surprise to him. He walked through the Manor, while his emotions changed between an unsurprising kind of disappointment and the strong feeling of being angry. He still wasn’t enough for his mother, no matter how he presented himself.

In his room, he found a full on blackish, dark blue suit. Alongside a white shirt and the official Malfoy crest tie, he had always worn whenever something special was happening, like Christmas or a birthday.

Draco rubbed his forehead, and sighed. “Let’s just get this over with” he told himself and changed as quickly as possible, before heading back to the dining room.

Once there, he looked back at his mother. “How are things?”

“Good, thank you.” Their discussion was interrupted by the bells ringing again. Draco frowned and turned to look at his mother. More guests? That was not what she had said would happen in the letter. His mother smiled. “I hope you don’t mind that I have invited a few more people?”

“Mother, what do you mean? I thought this was a family dinner?”

Without answering Draco’s question, his mother left the room. Draco groaned and shook his head. He turned to the table, hoping that his mother’s etiquette would give away something. The table was set for four people, the finest silver and even… gold?

Draco froze as he saw the two golden cups. “It’s an engagement dinner!” he said out loud. His mother wanted to marry him off!

Before he could do anything, his mother walked back into the room, two guests following her. The first was a huge, muscular man with light red hair and a rather soft face. Behind him, a girl followed, she had blond hair and was wearing a very nice turquoise dress.

“These are Monsieur Brodeur and his daughter Adélaïde Claudine Brodeur. I have invited them over to dinner as well” Narcissa said, before switching to French to talk to them. They clearly came from France. “Welcome to the Malfoy Manor!”

Draco stood there, debating whether or not he should wait to talk to her once the guests were gone again or if he should say ‘fuck the etiquette’ and they should talk right now, in front of them. The problem was rather simple: Once he would drink from the golden cup and Adélaïde would as well, they would be engaged. So…

Draco sighed and started speaking in somewhat hawing French: “I am sorry, Monsieur Brodeur, Mademoiselle Brodeur. I believed this to be a family event and now I realize this has been turned into an engagement ceremony. Therefore, with the utmost respect, I would like to retrieve back to my studies. I do not have any ambitions, what so ever, to marry in the near future. And I do believe that both of you have no idea what it would mean to marry into the Malfoy family.” Draco bowed deeper than he was supposed to, however, he felt really guilty being the one to say ‘hello and goodbye’. He then turned to Adélaïde: “I wish you find an amazing husband, one day. I’m sorry, it won’t be me.”

With that, he walked out of the room, while Narcissa followed almost hysterically. “Draco, you cannot just walk out of here! I have made an arrangement for your future! It took quite a while to finally have this done! If you don’t go through with the marriage, what kind of a future do you think is waiting for you?!”

“Mother, you invited me here under the pretense of fixing our relationship.” Draco narrowed his eyes at his mother. He saw the Brodeurs walking out of the room, following their discussions, but he didn’t care one bit. “But it turns out; you just want me to continue the Malfoy line. I am ashamed of being your son. As a matter of fact, I will no longer comply with any of the pureblood rules, the Malfoy name shall be no more.”

Narcissa looked like she was about to explode. She took out her wand with narrowed eyes. “As you wish! As the only free acting Malfoy family member, I will herby _take your name_!”

Draco froze staring at his mother, unable to think of anything. Before he could even realize what was going on, the earth started to shake. Magic rushed at him, clouds of white dust formed around him, setting him as the middle of a hurricane. The ancient Malfoy magic tore into him as if knives were cutting him into pieces or claws of a wild animal ripped open his skin. Draco screamed in pain into the howling whirlwind around him, he felt something torn out of his body and fell to his knees, defeated.


	67. Chapter 67

Draco stumbled into the Common Room, almost walking into Millicent, who had been about to leave the room. She stopped and helped him to their secret space, where all his friends were sitting. Once they saw him, every discussion seized.

“Draco, what happened?” Millicent finally asked.

Theodore looked at him closely and frowned. “You look far too fancy for it to just be a catch up dinner”

“That’s because it wasn’t a catch up dinner!” Draco growled and touched the burnt up Malfoy crest tie around his neck. Only a little bit was left and it reminded him of what had happened a few moments prior to him apparating the hell out of that house.

Pansy gasped and sat up straight. “Draco, are you engaged now?!”

Draco laughed humorlessly and shook his head. “Do I look like it? Well, if my mother would have a say in it, definitely. The girl wasn’t even fifteen, I think. And they’re from France, they probably never heard of the Malfoy name.”

Blaise frowned. “So you’re not?”

“No.” Draco shook his head and rubbed his forehead, slightly frustrated. “No, I’m not engaged. And I’ve lost my name.”

It was quiet for a while, before his friends seemed to have realized what that meant. Draco didn’t look up, too afraid of what he might be seeing: all the pity. He couldn’t handle that right now. His best friend placed her hand on his arm and squeazed slightly in silent consolation.

Millicent once again was the first to speak up: “You… what?! You lost your name? How is that even still possible? The last witch who had lost her name was three hundred years ago!”

“That’s a joke, right?” Theodore shook his head and wet his lips. “Oh Merlin… that’s terrible.”

Draco finally looked up and saw Harry slightly confused. Once his ward saw that Draco looked at him, he tilted his head a little and frowned. “What does it mean to lose your name? You’re still Draco, right?”

Nodding, Draco confirmed that he had at least kept his first name. “I am, but I don’t have any last name anymore.”

“That’s stupid. She can’t do that! You’re still our Draco Ma…aa...” Blaise had serious trouble saying Draco’s former last name. His head turned red with his frantic trying. He finally shook his head. “Shit.”

“So…” Harry was still frowning. “I can’t say ‘Malfoy’? I just did…”

Even though Draco felt absolutely bad, he smiled weakly. “You can say it, Harry. Just not after you say Draco or Draco Lucius.”

Pansy again summed it up just like Blaise had before her. “Shit!”

That was just what Draco felt. This day could not have ended worse. Well… It was Friday, so it would end worse: Harry was also going to grow up in a few hours. Well, for now… Draco had other problems going on.

“Yes” he sighed. “I’m getting changed now, before I look into that other huge problem. At least I can stay at Hogwarts for the next few weeks.”

While he was in his room changing his clothes, he decided to take a shower as well. He needed to get these memories out of his mind. His mother had looked so evil. Almost like Aunt Bella. Well, she had destroyed her own life by taking Draco’s name away. Now, he was never again going to react to anything a Malfoy wrote or said. They weren’t his family anymore.

Unsurprisingly, the shower didn’t help with Draco’s thought. What did help, was his favorite jumper and once he went back to his room, Harry sitting on his bed, deep in thought.

“Are you okay, Harry?” Draco asked and brought his ward back to reality.

Frowning slightly, Harry shook his head. “I should be asking _you_ that! I’m doing just fine. How are you?”

Sighing, Draco sat down next to his ward and shrugged his shoulders. “It’ll be better once I’ve realized that it wasn’t a dream. I’m definitely going to have some kind of a nightmare about this later.”

“What happens to wizards and witches who lose their names?” Harry asked worriedly. “I mean, you can have mine, if you want to!”

Draco chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t worry, Harry. I’m not into wizard culture anymore. I’m just going to get a Muggle name and hide in their world. And you don’t have to give me your name. That would require marriage.”

“Oh” Harry said, thinking deeply for a few seconds, and grinned then. “Makes sense. I thought I could talk to you about Dumbledore dying, but I think you might be having other things on your mind. So, I’ll go and try to scare Theo.”

“One day, Theodore will make you pay for continuously scaring the living daylight out of him” Draco said and grinned. When Harry got up, Draco held him back and smiled. “We can still talk, Harry, It’s definitely better to talk about something than thinking about me being without a family.”

Harry smiled, sat back down and shook his head. “Here’s where you’re wrong, Dray: You still have a family. Pansy and Theodore have started looking into a way to give you a name back, even one of theirs if it’s needed. And Millicent is currently writing a letter to Gringotts so you’re getting at least some money. Blaise left to go talk to some people. They are your family.” Harry smiled and hesitated. He then added: “And I like to think that I’m your family as well, or at least a friend. So, I came to see how you’re feeling.”

All of this made Draco smile weakly. He needed to address the most important thing first: “You are my family, Harry. Don’t worry. As much as Pansy and the others are my family now, I’ll count you to these idiots as well.”

Grinning, Harry rolled his eyes. “Good! That’s all I wanted. To be one of the idiots.”

Despite everything that had happened today, Draco burst out laughing and shook his head. “You were one of the idiot trio before, Harry! Don’t you remember? The Gryffindory oh so holy Golden Trio?”

“Who would be in the Golden Trio, if I would have been a Slytherin from the very start?” Harry asked and then answered his own question: “If you wouldn’t have been such an idiot when I first saw you, I think we would have been friends.”

“Hard pass! I don’t think I would have been friends with someone who destroyed my father’s legacy” Draco said and winked at Harry. “But let’s ignore that. You said you wanted to talk to me about… Dumbledore?”

Harry nodded and smiled weakly. “I know you didn’t do it. I think some people thought you were the one to kill him.”

“I think you’re not having all your memories in the correct order, which does make sense. Well, I didn’t kill him, but Severus did, right? He talked in my hearing and luckily, with some memories shown to the Wizengamot, they let both of us off the hook. You know, you talked there as well” Draco explained what had happened.

He saw how Harry’s eyes grew big and he shook his head. “I went in front of a bunch of people to save you? Even before you were my Magical Guardian?”

“Strange, huh?” Draco said grinning.

For some reason, Harry didn’t respond, maybe he had just gotten more memories to go through. After quite some time, he finally shrugged his shoulders and sighed. “I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but… sometimes I feel like it was my mistake Dumbledore died.”

Draco nodded. “I know just what you mean, Harry. I think it’s my mistake that all of this even happened. I had been working on the cabinet to let them into Hogwarts for all of sixth year.” He fell on his back and looked up at the ceiling.

Harry grinned down on him and lay back as well, staring up at the cold castle ceiling. They were quiet for a while until Harry turned his head, almost examining him closely. “I know it’s none of my business, but I’m curious: Why didn’t you accept your mother’s chosen wife?”

That was a good question. “Well, first of all, I am my own person and I can choose who I want to marry. Secondly, my so called future wife would have no idea what that name would do to her reputation. And she was way too young for me.” _I’m also not so sure I’m even interested in girls_ , Draco thought, concentrating really hard on looking at the ceiling.

“That was very noble of you.”

“What?” Draco turned to look at Harry and shook his head. “I basically killed every potential I had in the world and you tell me it was noble?”

Harry nodded and turned back to the stone above them. “You could have gone through with it, marry, have children, be an _amazing_ father!” With that Harry turned back to Draco and nodded as if to prove his point by doing so. Draco chuckled and rolled his eyes, while Harry continued: “However, you chose… your own happiness. To do that while having to pay such a high prize for that is absolutely noble and you should be an idol for anyone who has to live with parents that think they are the only ones who know what’s good for their child.”

Draco smiled weakly. “You’re far too intelligent for your own good, Harry.”

“Comes with the experience.”

“Experience of what? Being an idiot?”

Harry snorted. “You’re the one who can speak of _that_ experience. I have some in the department of…”

Draco grinningly interrupted his ward as well. “…of being a dick to anyone who’s not in your favorite house.”

“That’s not a burn, Draco” Harry chuckled.

“Yeah, I’m still learning.”

“You don’t have the experience, I would suggest.”

Draco sat up and looked down at his ward, who had his eyes closed, but grinned broadly. “Harry, you’re just asking for me to tell you you’re not getting any dessert today!”

Harry opened one eye, still grinning. “If you do that, I’ll tell Pansy that it’s not justified. And once I’ve eaten her dessert, I’m going to visit Hermione, Ron and Neville and tell them that you didn’t give me any food today and they’ll do a festival in my honor with a lot of food!”

Draco smirked. “And once that happens and they realize you’re not hungry, they will figure out you’ve been lying to them.”

“Oh shoot. Didn’t think about that.”

Despite everything that was going on in his mind, Draco finally laughed out loud and shook his head. Harry grinned proudly, as if he had been trying to make him laugh like that ever since they had started talking. This man (which he was going to be) certainly was a handful.


	68. Chapter 68

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this story now has over 1000 comments, I have decided to give you a present in form of another chapter. And yes that means today, there are 2 chapters. Thank you!
> 
> By the way, yes I know half of these comments are mine, answering your comments, but without your comments first, I would have had nothing to answer to, so in my opinion, this is still worth a huge thank you and another chapter ;)

Chuckling, Draco got up, went over to the TV he had hidden in the corner and placed his favorite movie in there. When he turned around, Harry held a bowl of popcorn up. “I figured you’d want to watch your favorite movie, so I brought snacks.”

It warmed Draco’s heart how thoughtful his ward was. “Thank you, Harry. You did think correctly.” And so, they both settled down in front of the TV, watching Draco’s movie which made him feel slightly better.

Well, Harry had been right: He did belong to his family. And he was next to Pansy one of the most important people now. And both of them were much better people than his own parents anyway.

_Nicholas ran through the dark and rainy night, standing under Diana’s window. He looked up at her, calling her name. She couldn’t hear him, music playing loudly from the party downstairs. She sat down at her desk, taking a book she had stolen from her father’s office._

_Outside, Nicholas decided to sneak into the house by following a few guests. He managed to do so and found another man standing in the middle, talking about what a perfect pair the two of them was going to make._

_‘Diana will be my beautiful wife and she will be happy with me! We’re going to life our life-long dream with a few happy children.’_

_Nicholas huffed and managed to sneak up the stairs, when he was almost caught by Diana’s father. Luckily, the idiot future husband asked him something, getting the attention away from him._

_Without knocking, he opened the door to Diana’s room. She jumped up and opened her mouth to say something, when she saw him. ‘Nicholas! You’re not supposed to be here!’_

_‘I will follow you to the end of the world. Your love is the only thing that keeps me alive.’_

_Diana smiled broadly, though her expression turned regretful. ‘I’m sorry, Nicholas. I’m supposed to get married in two days. I ran away from you, realizing I can’t be with you. You need to let me go.’_

_She turned back to her book, while he entered the room fully, closing the doors behind him. Nicholas shook his head. He gently placed his thumb under her chin, slightly raising her head and looked her deep into her eyes._

_‘I want to marry you!’ His eyes were so honest and soft._

_Diana shook her head, smiling sadly. She released her head from his hand and wet her lips. ‘I’m a nobody. Why me?’_

_Nicholas looked at her and without an answer, leaned in, softly kissing her. When they released, he still had his eyes closed, while Diana looked at him, unable to believe what just happened._

_‘You’re everything to me. We’re soulmates. I loved you ever since I first saw you.’_

_Shaking her head, she smiled sadly. ‘Your flight to Paris leaves in twenty minutes.’ She turned back to her book, a single tear trailing down her cheek._

_‘No’ Nicholas said it so firmly; Diana held her breath, looking up at him. ‘It’s our flight. We’re going to Paris.’_

_‘I’m getting married, Nicholas.’_

_He smiled. ‘Run away with me, please. I know you can be happier with me.’_

_Diana looked at him for a few moments, before she quickly closed the book. She grabbed a bag, throwing in a few clothes, jewelry and two books. ‘Let’s go. Now!’_

_They took the entrance at the back and a cab, driving through the streets until they managed to get the flight and took off for Paris._

Draco frowned at the movie. Everything was different now. Despite the weird film logic about taking a flight twenty minutes later and having to get through London traffic, there was something else that was bothering him and never really had. Until now.

“I never realized it was a movie about a forced marriage. After today, I might have to choose another movie that I like the most.” He sighed, placing his head on the bed. Since they were sitting on the floor, it wasn’t that difficult and he could still see Harry from the corner of his eyes.

His ward nodded weakly. “It is rather obvious now. But most stories have things like that, something their protagonist has to overcome. This story is apparently a forced marriage and her family. I’m sure there are movies with similar… stories.”

Draco rubbed his forehead. “I guess. I’m still not happy with the fact that I’ve liked this movie for so long and I’ve never realized it.”

“Maybe this story’s why you were strong enough to tell your mother that you’re not going to marry the girl? Because Diana also didn’t get married to Leon. I’m sure this movie was an outrage when it first came out. It seems to be quite an old movie.” Harry grinned and got up to check the date.

Draco narrowed his eyes, looking at the screen where the film was rolling backwards right now. Seeing this all running back was still amazing to watch. And it gave him the opportunity to think about what Harry said. Did he get his strength from the female lead character? When he was with his mother, he hadn’t even thought of the film. To him, it didn’t seem as if he had the strength from her.

No, this was him. His life wasn’t a movie. It wasn’t a story someone else told him to write. This was his life and it had been his choice not to get married. His life was already messed up, he didn’t need to take anybody else down with him. And definitely not that girl. She seemed sweet and maybe, under other circumstances, he would have made friends with her, but he couldn’t have married someone. Especially not now.

“Stop over-thinking, Dray!” Harry grinned and “The movie is from 1937. I’m pretty sure that thing was an outrage.”

This made Draco smirk. “Absolutely. Diana also wanted to be a lawyer and she worked for a company, I sure people burnt the movie for all of that.”

He leaned back thinking about how this movie might have changed people’s view, hopefully. Well, he couldn’t think that much anymore, since he heard a groan and looked up to find Harry on the floor.

“Hey, Harry, what’s going on?” He quickly got up and walked over to his ward.

Harry was holding his stomach and seemed to be in a little pain. In fact, he was also sweating slightly and only after a few seconds, his body stopped being so tense. “I don’t know” Harry answered. “I just suddenly have such stomach pains. It’s weird. I didn’t even do anything.”

Draco smiled, getting up to grab a few potions he kept in his room. “You did eat almost all of the popcorn by yourself, Harry. I was far too concerned about why I thought I liked the movie.”

“That can’t be the reason, right?” his ward asked, when Draco walked closer with a potion against stomach aches. He had these specifically for when he was eating too much unhealthy foods. His body just wasn’t made to accept a huge amount of sweets without anything healthy in between.

“I don’t know. But take this and it’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

Harry growled. “It already _is_ fine.”

“It’ll come back. I mean, if you’d rather wait for another pain attack, you don’t have to take them.”

“Fine” rolling his eyes, Harry took the vial and downed the potion in one go.

Draco bit back a ‘good boy’ comment, even though it was really hard to do. Harry would have probably killed him if he had done something like that. For now, Draco was happy with how his ward had reacted, but he needed to keep his eyes on him. Something wasn’t right, he just knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun facts I have learned (and researched) while writing this:
> 
>   * The first sound film was invented by late or mid 1920s
>   * Commercial flights started in Europe around 1930, where they were marketing flights from Germany to South America (Brazil to be exact) in 3 days (I hate flying, I do not want to imagine being stuck in a plane for 3 days!)
> 



	69. Chapter 69

The news of how Draco had lost his name, had travelled rather fast and were proven on Monday, when one of the professors had wanted to tell Draco to do something, but couldn’t get his name out. For the morning, people had called him Mr. Nemo, Latin for nobody. Too many of Draco’s classmates (from all different houses) had however revolted and it had in the afternoon quickly changed to Mr. Perdita, which wasn’t much better. It just meant that he was lost, which… yes, he was. But people shouldn’t have to point it out to him. He did feel honored that his classmates stuck together and at least _tried_ to help.

Even Weasley had stopped calling him Perdita or Nemo after two tries and now went with Draco. He himself also considered calling him Ron, just because everything else was slightly confusing.

Unsurprisingly, everything his friends had looked into had turned out to be a dead end. Gringotts had refused to give him any of his former inheritance, since Narcissa had taken his name in front of two witnesses. And well, they claimed that she was capable of thinking clearly – for which they probably received money. Since the last witch or wizard who had lost their name had happened over three centuries ago, none of Blaise’s contacts could help even a little. And well, while Pansy and Theodore had used all their free time – Theodore even some of his study time – to find a way in giving Draco his name back (that wouldn’t require marriage) they had found nothing.

Not that Draco cared much. He was sure that he was much happier now. Seeing how all his friends stuck together, Harry helping in distracting him with homework or some other things he quite clearly didn’t need help, but asked for it anyway, all of this was amazing. And in all honesty, who would want to be a ‘Malfoy’ anyway?!

At dinner, Draco sat down next to Pansy and Blaise, while Theodore and Millicent escorted Harry to the Gryffindor table, where his friends seemed to be incredibly happy to share another meal with them again. He also looked very much like himself again, but almost a head taller.

Pansy frowned when Draco sat down without Harry in tow. “Draco, what’s going on?”

While Draco sat down, he discreetly pointed over to his ward. “I want you to tell me that I’m not seeing things, Pans. Ze as well: Is Harry over-eating? From my perspective it looks like it. Yesterday evening when we were in our room, he complained about stomachaches. I gave him a potion, but I think it’s going to happen again.”

Blaise frowned and looked over to Harry, who once again was clearly stuffing as much food into him as he could see. Even Draco could recognize how that wasn’t going to turn out well. “That’s not good” Blaise said and shook his head. “Do you know why he does that?”

Draco shook his head. “Not yet…” Before he could continue, Pansy interrupted them.

“Guys, it’s our seventh year! From what I’ve heard when I was around Hermione and Ron, they went through quite a lot of weeks without food. If Harry’s afraid he won’t get enough food… he might just eat as much as possible.”

Sighing, Draco nodded. “I’m really afraid of hearing what he went through in his seventh year. Do any of you know what they were doing travelling around the UK?”

Blaise shook his head, still worriedly looking over at Harry. “I just heard that they broke into Gringotts, flew away with a dragon and broke into the Ministry, while the people there were actively hunting them. I mean… that’s craziness on a different level.”

Draco nodded. “They definitely went through some hard times.” He remembered Aunt Bella torturing Hermione in his Manor and bit his lower lip, turning to the food. “Looks like we need to talk to Harry once dinner is over.”

During the course if the dinner, Draco got increasingly worried over his ward. Yes, he was seventeen and that meant he was now an adult based on the Wizarding laws, but that didn’t mean Draco just stopped worrying.

When they finally left to go to the Common Room, Draco was but a nervous wreck. When they finally sat down in their secret hiding space, Harry seemed to know exactly what was going to happen. Well, he rushed out quickly, Draco following.

It seemed as if Draco’s predictions had been correct. Harry had eaten too much and he was currently over the toilet puking. Draco rubbed his back and sighed.

Luckily, about five minutes later, Blaise returned with a potion vial from Severus and Harry took it without any problems. It seemed to take effect immediately, as Harry coughed once more, before leaning back and rubbing his head.

Draco flushed, while Harry washed his face and hands. While they headed back to their spot, Pansy put her arm around Draco’s ward and pressed him against her. “Harry, maybe you’re eating too fast?”

Rolling his eyes, Harry smiled weakly. “I know I’m eating too fast and too much! I’ve never actually got my eating habits under control. I’m always hungry!” Draco and basically everybody else knew that this was clearly also coming from the years as a child, where he’s had to live off of what his relatives didn’t eat. It was disgusting how a child had grown up like that.

“Maybe you just think you’re constantly hungry?” Theodore offered as they finally sat down in their secret spot again. Growing up with them should have gotten his hunger under control, right?

Harry groaned and shrugged his shoulders. “You’re not leaving me alone tonight, are you?” he asked and looked around. Draco also glanced around to see all his friends with a rather determined expression. No, they were not going to Harry get away with something like that.

So, he said exactly that: “No, Harry. We need to know what happened so we can potentially help you.”

“Nobody can help me.”

Before Draco could say that Harry was getting a little dark there, Pansy had already pulled him into her half-hug and she grinned at Draco’s ward. “Don’t be overly dramatic; it doesn’t suit you, darling.”

Surprisingly, she managed a genuine grin from Harry and he even giggled a little, before sitting up straight and sighing. “Okay, okay, Pansy. But you need to promise me not to freak out over what I’m about to tell you.”

“That is not really calming, Harry.” Millicent frowned and crossed her left leg over her right. She seemed like a professional journalist that way.

Harry simply nodded. “I know, but sometimes I think all of you keep seeing me as a child. And… I did kind of already live it and thanks to you my childhood is much nicer to think about. So, don’t freak out?”

Blaise frowned and narrowed his eyes. “If anybody wants to hurt you, I will freak out!”

Draco thought that his friends were slightly overreacting; however, Harry on the other hand chuckled. And his ward being at least somewhat happy made this comment worth it.

“I’m talking about my past, no one’s hurting me now.” He looked to the Common Room and cast a quick _silencio_ around their secret place. Draco frowned. That did not look nor sound good. Then again it was Harry. So it was very likely going to be something bad. And when he started talking, Draco felt his blood freeze once more: “What do you know about Horcruxes?”

Luckily, nobody thought of looking at Draco, as everyone turned to their walking encyclopedia, and Theodore sighed. “I don’t know very much about it, my family was never intentionally into Dark Arts. I just know that a Horcrux is a dark object where the wizard casting the spell hides a part of their soul to stay or become immortal.”

Harry threw his hands into the air. “How did you know that all the time?! We should have gone and visited you while we tried to figure out what they were and how Voldemort made them.” There was a small grin on his face, which made Draco once again frown.

Theodore shook his head. “No thank you! Nobody knows how to cast them. There’s a rumor surrounding it stating that murder is involved. That is literally all I know.”

Pansy had not removed her arm around Harry’s shoulders and she was now squeezing it again. “Go back a second there, darling. Did you say… did you say the Dark Lord made a Horcrux?” she asked, eyes wide as she seemed to try and understand what was happening.

“One Horcrux? That’s actually sweet that you think after one successfully created Horcrux, he would stop.” Harry laughed humorlessly and shook his head. “No, he made six – actually seven with me.”

Draco froze and stared at his ward, trying his hardest to understand what Harry had just said. “You…” He couldn’t finish his thought. How had he never thought that the night the Dark Lord disappeared, he had created another Horcrux?! And it was baby Harry! Whenever he thought he had heard all there was about his ward… there were new things happening as well.

“Yes, I was closer to him than I wanted to be. I kept having dreams about what he was doing at that exact time. That was how Dumbledore realized I may be a Horcrux.” Harry sighed and rubbed his forehead, while Pansy pulled him closer. He smiled at her, weakly, and continued. “Actually, Severus found out as well and he thought what the Headmaster was doing was inhumane.”

“Are you still a Horcrux?” Millicent asked with wide eyes.

This made Harry chuckle and he shook his head. “If I were, Riddle would be alive now as well. So, no.”

It was quiet for a while, until Theodore spoke up again. “How does one go about destroying a Horcrux?!” he asked with raised eyebrows.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Basilisk poison. When I killed the basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor, it basically absorbed the poison and since then it was able to kill Horcruxes.”

“So… while _we_ were in school, you…” Pansy seemingly tried to understand the concept that Harry had been hunting Horcruxes while they stayed at their somewhat safe school. Being in Slytherin meant safety for them. Even if nobody had wanted to follow the Death Eaters and what they had been doing was just wrong.

Apparently, since Pansy seemed unable to finish her sentence, Harry finished it for her: “We travelled around England, trying to find all the hidden objects that could maybe be Horcruxes. The first one I destroyed when I was in second year. There was a diary through which Tom Riddle used to open the Chamber of Secrets. Then there’s the ring, which cursed Dumbledore.”

Once again, Theodore was asking the questions: “So, when you went to the Ministry, you were looking for a Horcrux there?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, Slytherin’s Locket, which Umbridge had somehow gotten. You definitely heard about the break-in in Gringott’s?” Harry actually smirked.

Pansy nodded. “It was all over the news! People thought you were dead before and then we get that. It was awesome and even better to see the Death Eaters freak out over how you’d gotten away.” She grinned and Harry laughed.

“Well, yes, we were looking for Hufflepuff’s Cup. So… yeah.”

They all were quiet again, lost in their own thoughts. Draco watched his ward intently. Harry had gone through so much. Of course, he had been jumpy when they were all back at Hogwarts. He had been hunted for an entire year. They were on the run, constantly scared of accidentally running into the Dark Lord or someone of the Snatchers, probably. Hearing that made him feel incredibly guilty over how he had laughed about him and his friends. They went through hell, while he had a somewhat okay life. At least enough food.

Finally, it was Millicent who killed the silence. “And so, you destroyed them?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, but it was really hard to do so while keeping our sanity. On top of that we had so little to eat all the time! Until we figured out how to destroy the Horcruxes, we basically kept them on our bodies, so they wouldn’t get lost. We went mad with them. Ron lashed out at us, I was mad at him, Hermione freaked out in the middle of us. It was so hard. And then he left. It took a toll on all of us.”

Blaise frowned. “Are you telling us, your friend just _left_ you to suffer alone?!”

“Yes.” Harry shrugged his shoulders, as if he was okay with it. Which, frankly, he was. Draco knew his ward by now and he could forgive far too easily. “He was the one who had the most to lose, guys. Hermione had hidden her parents in Australia, mine are dead…” He once again shrugged his shoulders.

“Doesn’t make it right.” Pansy shook her head.

Harry smiled weakly at her. “Well, we won in the end, and when Ron came back he had a lot of good information for us, so it all worked out.”

“I get what you’re saying, but…” Blaise shook his head.

Apparently, even Blaise was on Pansy’s side… Well, no. Everyone was on her side. Weasley having left Harry behind just so he could go back to his warm and loving family… That wasn’t right. Whatever it was, Draco was more interested in the Horcruxes.

“You only told us of five Horcruxes, which were the others?” He asked.

Harry nodded. “Yes, the Ravenclaw diadem and Nagini. The only living creature next to me with a dark object inside it. I should feel honored.”

Pansy pulled him into a hug and shook her head. “You should feel happy to have survived, darling. And that nobody will use you as a Horcrux ever again!”


	70. Chapter 70

“Draco, are you busy?”

Looking up from his potion’s essay, Draco found the Head of House standing in his door. Sighing, he placed the essay back into his drawer and go up. “Not even close. Any way I can help you?”

Severus nodded and beckoned him to follow him. “Let’s get a drink.”

Draco chuckled and followed his godfather through the Common Room, where he caught Harry and Blaise on a Muggle experiment; while Pansy commented on how bad they were doing it and trying to do something to change it. Harry had continuously told her to leave them alone, but they all just had too much fun teasing each other. Grinning over their actions, Draco turned back to his godfather who seemingly hadn't seen any of this.

Once they reached Severus’ office, the whiskey was already there. Sighing, Draco slumped down and gratefully swallowed the alcohol. “So, what do you want to talk about? I’m pretty sure I already know.”

His godfather nodded. “Your… former mother kept trying to fire call me. Last night, I finally accepted the call; it went as you would have guessed.”

“She wants you to leave me behind as well?” Draco offered to which Severus sighed and nodded. “Then why don’t you do it?” Draco asked.

Frowning, Severus smiled weakly. “Because I’m not letting you wander through life without a plan, Draco. What do you want to do after Hogwarts?”

“Nothing” Draco answered honestly. “I have no plan.”

Severus sighed and nodded. “Well, they have an opening at POOL, you know the _Potion’s yOuth Organisation’s cLub_. It’s a project to teach young Muggleborn children the basics in how to work with potions. Purebloods or even half-bloods already have some knowledge and they want to extent that to Muggleborns as well.”

Slightly confused and weirdly interested in this project, Draco sat up straight. However, his hopes had scattered as fast as they had overcome him. “Sev, you need a name to be part of something. I don’t have an official name anymore. I’m thinking I could just as well get a Muggle name and be a barista somewhere.”

While Severus was quiet, Draco frowned, trying to find out what in Merlin’s name was going on! Finally, his godfather decided to speak up: “Well, if you’re concerned about getting a name…” He hesitated, before getting up and walking over to his bookshelf, grabbing a few papers. “I was thinking about giving you a name back. I know the Snapes aren’t as pureblood as the Malfoys and that the amount of money will probably never be the same again, but…”

“Are you…” Draco interrupted his godfather, sitting up straight. That was a dream, right? It could only be a dream… “Are you telling me you want to adopt me?!”

“That was the plan, yes.” Severus seemed really unsure whether or not he had done the correct thing. It was not at all how his godfather had usually behaved. “You honestly don’t have to react to it, but I thought it would be…”

Draco once again stopped his godfather: “Yes! Yes, I want to be your son, Severus! You’ve been the only constant in my life that’s given me something to hang on to. And even though we might not have always seen eye to eye on things… You were there for me.”

Severus smiled. “Are you sure? I don’t want you making a rushed decision and then regretting that over the next few years.”

“Sev, you want to give me a name! How is that a rushed decision!? How is any of this a rushed decision?! You have been a better parent than any of mine. So, yes, I want to be your son.”

His godfather… soon-to-be actual father chuckled. “Nice of you to say. I’m still giving you twenty four hours until we’re heading over to the Ministry. I want you to think about whether or not you’re actually doing it because you want to, not because you think you need to do it.”

Draco rolled his eyes. However, at Severus’ raised eyebrows, he sighed. “Yes sir!”

Well, if the news about Draco losing his name had travelled fast… the news about Professor Snape about to adopt him had travelled lightning fast. Draco suspected either Harry – telling Hermione and his friends – or Pansy – telling Neville. Either way, by the end of the day, the whole castle knew what they wanted to do the next day.

Draco was sitting in the library reading a book Madam Pince didn’t let him take out of the library, when a few people walked by, talking about how ‘nice Professor Snape was to take in a homeless Draco Perdita’. They hadn't been the first to talk about that. Right in front of him. Did they all think he was stupid not to realize that they tried... something?

Rolling his eyes, Draco was just about to pack up his things, when Harry sat down next to him. “You’re usually studying in the Common Room” he stated as a greeting.

Draco chuckled. “Well observed, Harry. I’m here, because this boring book can’t leave the library.” He showed the book about Transfigurations and rolled his eyes again.

“You’re just done with that subject, aren’t you?” Harry snickered and Draco would have definitely thrown a piece of paper at his ward had they been in their Common Room. Up here, he simply rolled his eyes.

He packed up all his things and sighed. “Fancy a walk, Harry?”

Nodding, his ward got up and they silently wandered through the castle until they made it to the lake, where they found Pansy and Neville sitting on a heated blanket as well as Theodore and Blaise training jinxes on each other.

Draco smiled, when they passed them and he caught Pansy’s eyes and she winked at him. Yes, these idiots they were most definitely his family. And it felt so comfortable, so intimate here.

“So, are you looking forward to being part of Severus’ family?” Harry asked as they settled down on a big rock where the water broke and sent a few splashes of refreshingly water over them.

“I am. I hope I’ll be happier with a father who actually cares about me.”

Harry nodded. “Yes, Severus really cares about you. I can tell.”

Draco chuckled. They watched the water in the soft wind playing and a few monsters under the surface rising for a second before hiding again. For some reason, it looked all very peacefully and Draco felt himself relax.

“So, now that you’re almost your normal age again, Harry, what do you plan on doing after Hogwarts?” Draco asked and grinned as few drops of fresh water hit his face when another wave broke on the stone beneath them.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry crossed his legs. “I don’t know yet. I wanted to be an Auror, but after the war, I think I’ll just… enjoy my life.”

Draco agreed: “You definitely earned that!”

Harry nodded while he followed a mysterious shadow under the surface. “So what’s your plan after Hogwarts?”

“Not sure yet. Severus wants me to go into a new potion’s project. But I think enjoying life should be rather high on my list as well.”

Harry grinned mischievously, while he answered: “You definitely eared that!”

Draco chuckled. “Someone’s been a bad influence on you. I can’t really figure out who, yet.”

“It was quite clearly you” Harry smirked which earned him a magical slash of water in his face, while he laughed and Draco grinned.

They were quiet for a while. When he turned to his ward, he found him with closed eyes, nose into the wind, enjoying the fresh air. He looked so happy, care-free and relaxed. Just him breathing was enough to keep Draco's interest. He shivered slightly and pulled his pullover closer, suddenly feeling his head spinning. The happiness Harry portrayed was somehow too much. It took a while until he found himself able to tear away his eyes.

He turned back to the lake with a sudden realization. He liked Harry. He had a thing for him… How had he never seen that?! Why had it taken him that long to realize something so small?! And Harry wasn’t even into him! He had only ever dated girls! Damn his luck…

“Are you okay, Dray? You look like you realized something was a huge mistake… Do you not want to have Sev as your dad?” Harry asked and Draco quickly cleared his throat.

Shaking his head, he smiled weakly. “I will absolutely not think that having Severus as my dad is a bad thing! You’ve met my actual… former parents. Severus is a huge improvement!”

“True. You also know that you can always go and ask him whatever. I also think both of you share the same liking for alcohol” Harry grinned.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Draco couldn’t stop himself from chuckling and he shook his head, when Harry grimaced.

His ward even at seventeen had apparently no intent of drinking anything. “I smelled that whiskey Severus drinks… it’s disgusting.”

Well, Draco couldn’t contain his laughter and he turned away from the water, when Harry charmed a little bit towards him. “It’s whiskey from the Scottish Highlands, Harry. It’s really good!”

“That’s what you think!” Harry rolled his eyes, though he was clearly enjoying this little banter between them.

“Well, what I think is right.”

Harry grinned. “Again, Draco, that’s what _you_ think!”

This time it was Draco who directed a few water drops right into Harry’s face, who giggled as he turned away. That wasn’t keeping Draco’s feeling towards his ward away. Harry was almost eighteen by now. Only two more days. Then… who knew what was happening then. He had grown up with him, maybe it was all just too confusing and weird for his ward.

“How about we go back inside and see whether or not we can sneak some sweets from the kitchen?” Draco offered and they quickly got up. When they walked by Draco’s friends, Harry couldn’t help himself and jumped out at Theodore who swore so many different things, Draco had never heard him say before.

Harry ran away and Draco followed after he managed to stop laughing over Theodore lying on the grass, completely done. Next to him, Pansy and Neville were laughing as well and Blaise appointed himself to be the winner of their playful duel.


	71. Chapter 71

Draco hadn’t managed to go to sleep after having realized that he had more than just fatherly feelings for Harry. Had they always existed? Because… if they had that was extremely inappropriate. And he wasn’t sure how Harry was going to react to news like that. He couldn’t very well just go to him and say ‘I know I’ve been your Magical Guardian ever since you’ve been small, but I caught feelings for you, let’s be together’. That was stupid. As much as he wanted it to be that easy… it was definitely not going to be that way.

So once again, he groaned and got up, grabbed his favorite sweater and wandered to his godfather. The door to his office was closed, but after a soft knock, it opened and Severus stood there. Was he ever sleeping? He wasn’t even wearing clothes that could be considered for bed…

“Draco, come on in” he stepped aside to let Draco in.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, Severus! It’s all just too much and now I can’t sleep over it.” Draco fell into his chair and downed the small amount of whiskey Severus placed in front of him.

Before Severus could say something, he started again. “I mean, I’ve been his Magical Guardian in his new life ever since he can remember. I can’t just…”

His godfather narrowed his eyes and held up his hands in confusion. “Hold on, Draco. What’s the topic? I thought you were talking about me adopting you, but it doesn’t…”

“No!” Draco sat up and shook his head. “That I do not question one bit! I really want to go through with it!”

“Glad to hear it” Severus smiled and poured himself a drink as well. “So, Magical Guardian things… we’re talking about Harry?”

Draco nodded weakly. “I think I’ve caught feelings for him. It just happened! When we sat outside by the lake, I looked at him and then all of a sudden…”

His godfather had the audacity to chuckle. “Draco, feelings don’t just happen. I have watched you fall in love for the past seven years. Taking responsibility for him now only gave you another possibility to realize that you two match together rather well.”

“I’m not in love with my _ward_!”

Severus smiled. “Of course not, Draco. And you are quite clearly not here to talk about how you think you might be gay and that Harry has been the love of your life. You’re also definitely not here to rant about how you think Harry would either not be gay or never settle for someone like you.” He smirked. “Now, what did you want to talk about?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Okay! I hate how you can see through me.”

“If you decide not to hide your personality, you’re actually quite easy to read. Well, enough about that. Draco, what makes you wanting to spend time with me, drinking in the middle of the night?”

Sighing, Draco rubbed his temples. “I could lose everything! Harry will hate me once he realizes that I’m into him! I don’t even know if he’s gay!” Draco slumped in his chair. “I think it would be better to just pretend I’m something I’m not.”

Severus huffed and shook his head. “You should never pretend to be something you’re not just so people like you.”

Draco raised his eyes, anger and desperation mixing together. That wasn’t a good cocktail… “Oh I know, Severus. You don’t care what everyone else thinks about you. You can just pretend that nobody has a working brain, but I do! My mother has taken my fucking name, because I didn’t want to marry a girl! Now at least I know why…”

“Let me tell you something: They’re not your parents anymore, Draco.” Severus got up and in this confused silence, he walked over to his desk and got a framed picture from his desk. “In my life I have had two really great friends. One was Lily Evans, Harry’s mother, the other… your mother. And yes, the latter might have followed in the footsteps of the more insane family members…”

In Severus’ hand there was a picture of Severus and another girl. She seemed to be Harry’s mother. Draco’s godfather sat down again and looked intently at him, so that he knew speaking would be a mistake now. “Harry’s mother knew me better than I knew myself. And one day, she knew that there was something amiss whenever we were together. She figured out that I wasn’t speaking the truth all of the time.”

Frowning, Draco sat up straight again. What was Severus talking about? It sounded like a secret that he had wanted to keep a secret, but his mother had somehow figured it out…

“Truth be told, Draco: I’m not straight, I’m very much bisexual. Lily figured it out quicker than I did.” Severus had once again an uncharacteristically soft smile on his face. “She didn’t push me away, but embraced me and we went out to hunt for our partners.”

In the following silence, Draco wondered whether or not there was someone. Judging from the saddened look on his godfather’s eyes, there must have been someone who either didn’t make it or something else happened.

“Who did you find?”

“Sirius Black. It was nothing special, a summer romance and him telling me that nobody could ever know.” Snape smiled sadly. “After that summer, he went back to bullying me with his friends. But it hurt so much more.”

Draco didn’t know what to say. He would have never guessed… any of this. “I’m sorry.”

They stayed in silence for a little while longer, until Severus got his mask back up and he nodded at Draco. “Never mind that now. What I am trying to tell you, Draco: I believe your life will end better than mine.”

“I highly doubt that I have never heard Harry talk about feelings. I mean romantic feelings. He was once confused and asked what love was, but other than that…” Draco sighed and rubbed his temples. “He means more to me than I want to admit.”

Severus nodded. “Everyone who sees the two of you together knows that. You just need to be truthful to yourself. Once Harry’s back to his own self, spend time with him. Maybe that could help both of you figuring things out.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Rationality has never been my thing. Even though I’m supposed to be pureblood, I’ve always hated the pureblood mask of neutrality. Now I’m supposed to hide my feelings again?!”

“I’m sorry, Draco. However, you’re too dramatic: It’s only two more nights and a day.” Severus raised his eyebrows and smirked. Draco could tell he was amused by how Draco turned a simple problem into this unsolvable puzzle.

Sighing, Draco nodded and got up. “You know I will be back tomorrow night, right?”

“I’m counting on it. Same type of whiskey, or would you like some wine?” Severus asked with a lopsided grin.

“Wine would be lovely, Severus.”

With a nod they bid goodbye and Draco went to his room, actually feeling slightly tired. Maybe it was the alcohol, who knew. He yawned and went to change his clothes again. By the time he was done, he decided to look into his ward’s room again.

Once he opened the door, he found Harry rolled into a ball in one edge, quietly whimpering. It took Draco two seconds, before he realized that he might have a bad dream. He quickly crossed the room, sitting down on the bed and carefully waking up his ward. “Harry, come on. Wake up! You’re dreaming!”

Panting heavily, Harry opened his eyes, seemed to be very confused and sat up in his bed. He faced the wall and shook his head, looking around until he found Draco.

With almost a leap, he through his hands around Draco’s neck and pulled himself closer. Draco had just about enough time to hold against the pull and hugged his ward.

“What’s going on, Harry?” he asked quietly, rubbing his back.

Harry shook his head and they stayed quiet for a few moments, until he finally seemed able to let go and he sat with his back at the wall. Draco followed his example and looked at him worriedly.

He didn’t have to say anything. Harry started to talk without being told to do so or even asked. “I can’t believe I lived through a war, Draco.”

“You dreamt about it?”

Nodding, Harry rubbed his forehead. “I died.”

It took Draco a few seconds until he became aware of what Harry had just told him. Harry was alive there was no real way he could have died… right? “What do you mean, Harry?”

“Voldemort killed me. I was dead.”

Draco shook his head. “But you’re here! You can’t be alive if someone killed you!”

Harry nodded. “Do you remember how I told you about the Horcruxes? Dumbledore knew I was one and he realized the only way to… get the Horcrux out of me would be by…”

“No!” Draco looked at his ward flabbergasted. That was not real! No seventeen old boy should have found out that the only way to win a war was by dying! How did that not mess with his head?! If anything else was okay and he could deal with it… Being told you had to die so others could live…

“Don’t look so surprised, Dray” Harry chuckled. “We both fought in the Battle of Hogwarts. Both of us had the potential to be dead. It just happens that…”

“No” Draco repeated this time much stronger and he shook his head. “No, he didn’t try to kill you!”

Harry smirked. “Okay, you’re right. He didn’t _try_. He succeeded. How did you think Voldemort and even Hagrid ever thought I was dead? Me, just lying down on the floor somewhere in the Forbidden Forrest, hoping that someone stumbles over me? I needed Voldemort to…” Draco wanted to raise his voice again, but Harry glared at him raising his own voice so that any potential sound from him would be drowned out, “… to kill me so he would kill his own Horcrux. After that I could finally return as” he shrugged his shoulders and smiled weakly. “Just Harry.”

“War hero Harry Potter.” Draco corrected and even managed a miniscule grin.

Rolling his eyes, Harry smirked. “At least not _Horcrux_ Harry Potter. Literally everything else is better than that. Well, I only returned because Voldemort was stupid enough to take my blood. It continued the blood protection my mother started.”

Draco laughed baffled and shook his head. There were so many secrets surrounding Harry! However, after the small amount of details he had heard from his future father, he would bevelieve that Lily Potter would do something like that.


	72. Chapter 72

“Do you think I’ll lose my hair?”

Severus frowned and turned to Draco while they walked through the halls in the Ministry. “What in Merlin’s name are you talking about, Draco? The adoption isn’t making you bald…”

Draco narrowed his eyes and shook his head, before snorting. “I wasn’t talking about that! What I mean is… Do you think my hair will change? I like my blond hair and I know how to style it.” And also, there was a small bluish strain of hair left over from when Harry had changed his hair by accident. He would have liked to keep that for as long as possible.

“You could have fooled me.” Severus chuckled when Draco threw him an evil glare.

Yes, his hair was a little long now, but he really didn’t have time to go and have it cut. For now, he just kept it all together in a messy bun. Usually, his hair should be about shoulder length, which was what he liked. 

Severus brought him out of his mind. “Frankly, I have no idea what will be changing. It could only be small features or you could be taller, shorter…”

“No!” Draco called out and laughed, when Severus put his arm around his shoulders.

They walked to the department and were rather quickly seen by Minister Graeme, the official for blood adoption. He led them into a dark room with all walls being painted in black and no windows. When he closed the door, the candles on the walls flickered due to the sudden gust of wind. Three old looking chairs stood on the other side of the table, where Graeme sat down and motioned them to sit.

Draco swallowed and with a quick glance at his godfather, he sat down as well, Severus following quickly too.

“So, I have the blood adoption papers here.” He looked through a few parchments, before he turned back to Severus. “Is there anybody who can confirm that you’re adopting this young man out of pure intent?”

Before Draco could freak out entirely, Severus held out a parchment. “Indeed there is. This is the official statement of the Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall. Along with the one from former Order of the Phoenix fighter, Remus John Lupin.”

Draco widened his eyes when he looked at his godfather – future father. Both McGonagall and Remus had given their statements that they believed Severus would do him no harm?! This was beautiful! He should have known, Remus would have surely written a letter, right? Well, maybe he needed to prioritize a letter and yes, the one to Severus would have been number one to write.

Graeme read through the statements and performed a few spells on them, probably to see that they had been written without being forced to. Whatever he had tested, he seemed to be content with what he found (or didn’t find).

“Well then, my assistants will take a little bit of blood from both of you” he motioned the two people, who Draco just now realized were in the room, to do so, while he continued. “We will then perform the ancient blood adoption ritual.” Graeme turned to Draco. “Mr. Nemo, will you please go to the back and choose a flower in the other room?”

The assistant had gotten the blood from Draco and he once again glanced at Severus, who nodded at him, before he followed the assistant. The inside of the back room looked like a greenhouse. Only it wasn’t green but filled with all kinds of different colors. And it smelled as if he had just entered a flower shop, sweet and fruity and just amazing.

There were deep blue rose-like flowers under a spell that seemed to surround it with night. A few orchids stood in the middle, almost watching over all the other flowers. In the back shone a few faintly bluish forget-me-not and a softly purple Rhododendron showed its beautiful flowers.

White, red, pink and yellow flowers were everywhere, some more common than others, some seemingly incredibly rare and all of them protected in different ways, depending on what the flower seemed to need to most. It was beautiful and Draco almost didn’t want to leave. However, he needed to pick a flower and bring it back to the ritual. He was suddenly drawn to a beautiful deep red flower with a white middle. It looked so happy and strong… Next to it was a flower with deep yellow trumped shaped tepals and a white core. This one was also something he would have liked.

Well, the one that suddenly attracted all his attention was a flower with furry white petals and a yellow core. It looked so wild and strong that Draco smiled and nodded. He carefully picked the flower and assistant led him back into the normal room.

There, Severus was standing in front of a cauldron with a bubbling black potion inside. Graeme welcomed Draco back and nodded. “A beautiful choice, Mr. Nemo. Place the flower into the potion, and then we’ll add your blood as the final ingredient.”

Draco did as he was told and the assistants placed the blood into the potion as well. After a short amount of time, the bubbles stopped and the black color transformed into a soft white one. The potion seemed smooth and Graeme nodded impressed.

He turned to Severus, clearing his throat. “Lord Snape, Head of the Noble House of Snape, do you accept to take a son of no birth into your house, to adopt him and treat him as your own?”

Severus clearly needed a second, before he seemed to have his voice back. He nodded. “I accept.”

Graeme looked over to the potion which was still as smooth as before. So, he turned to Draco. “Mr. Nemo, you have been offered the blood adoption to the Noble House of Snape. Do you accept your new responsibility to your adopted family?”

A faint magic, much softer than the ancient Malfoy magic surrounded the air around Draco and he felt his breath shorten. This was really happening! He nodded quickly. “I accept” he whispered.

The Minister checked the potion again, though nothing seemed to have changed. And so, he smiled. “The flower you have chosen is called Edelweiss. It symbolizes your relationship to your new family. Edelweiss grows in the mountains and is a strong flower, surviving cold and other things, normal flowers can’t work with. It symbolizes courage and devotion.”

While Graeme was talking, the assistants took a cup of the potion and handed it over to Severus. And which that, the Minister talked again. “Your intent is pure. To seal the blood adoption, you will need to take a sip of it.” He smiled, when he quickly added: “Don’t worry, it will taste like nothing.”

Severus chuckled and took a sip, frowning at the potion afterwards. The assistant took back the cup and brought it over to Draco.

“You enter your new family with courage and devotion” Graeme said to Draco. “If you wish to complete the blood adoption, take a sip of the potion.”

And just like Severus had done before, Draco also took a sip. It tasted like absolutely nothing. Even water had a taste, but this was as if he was drinking liquid air, it was weird. The assistant took back the cup and Draco turned back to Graeme.

“Lord Snape, Head of the Noble House of Snape, do you wish to grant your name in gift to your new son?”

Severus nodded. “Yes.”

Graeme turned to the parchment and an assistant took it and fully immersed the document into the potion. Draco frowned slightly and even more, when he took it out and there was his name… _Draco Lucius Snape_ on the parchment.

He was no longer a nobody! He was a Snape! Draco widened his eyes and glanced over at Severus who looked at the parchment with wide eyes and a soft smile on his lips.

Turning back, Graeme vanished the potion and turned back to Draco and Severus. “And with that, the blood adoption is finished. You are now officially family. The physical changes to your will take place over the next week, so don’t be alarmed.” The Minister nodded once and spelt the parchment dry again, before he turned back to Draco. “In actuality, Mr. Snape, if the adopted person is off age, sometimes there aren’t any changes, just so you’re not surprised if nothing happens. The blood adoption has more effects when it’s performed on children.”

Draco nodded and grinned. Whatever it was, he was now an official part of Severus’ family. Even if he still looked the same, nobody could take away the feeling he had inside. And the ancient Snape family magic, which probably came more from the Prince's family magic, felt much warmer and cozier than the cold unfeeling Malfoy one.

When Severus looked at the parchment, he turned to Draco again. “Do you want to keep your other names, Draco? Since we’re already here we could as well change your name?”

Frowning, Draco nodded. “That’s an idea, but… I don’t think I want to change ‘Draco’. Everyone knows me by it.”

“Well, I’m not really talking about Draco. I’m talking about ‘Lucius’.” Severus chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

Oh, that one. Yes, that name needed to go. Draco nodded. “Yes, how about Severus?”

“Absolutely not!” Severus laughed and shook his head. “I’m already having too much trouble with this name; I’m not giving it to my son!”

Draco grinned and frowned. “It has to be a name without any prejudice or feeling related to it. But I want a longer one that I can shorten, just because I can” he grinned.

His now father frowned and nodded. “How about Alexander?”

“Draco Alexander Snape. I like it!” Draco beamed and nodded. “Alexander it is.”

Graeme wrote down the whole name and presented the parchment to Draco and Severus to sign. Just as a formality, he said.

And soon after, they left the department, Draco completely in shock that this had actually happened and Severus in what seemed to be a same kind of condition. Whatever it was, his new father was over it quicker than Draco and once they left to Diagon Alley, Draco found Severus bringing him to his favorite shop.

It was the tiny red shop, where Draco had brought Harry a few weeks (or was it months?) earlier to get the most amazing jumper he had ever had. Severus placed his arm around Draco’s shoulder. “I know you like these jumpers and I believe that might be a nice welcome gift to my family? What do you think?”

“I like it” Draco grinned and tried desperately to hide his excitement. He had a family again! And Severus was the best parent ever!

“Well then, let’s get this started” Severus said and chuckled as they entered the store. “Bridger, guess who’s here?”

A voice inside the shop roared at them and soon enough, Bridger walked towards Severus with open arms. “Ah cannae believe it's ye, Severus. Hoo hae ye bin auld mukker?”

Draco grinned. This was where he wanted to be. Severus as his father, not having to be scared that something bad might be happening. For the first time in a very long duration, he felt as if the world had started to look welcoming again.


	73. Chapter 73

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a question for you: How much do you hate Narcissa? Do you want to _see_ her being punished for what she did to Draco?
> 
> Edit:  
> to clarify: I am not a fan of physical violence and I will not have someone go over there and beat her to death or something! My question is just... if something were to happen to her, would you mind? ;)

Draco Alexander Snape. His new name sounded so beautiful! Draco couldn’t get enough of it! While Draco Lucius M…-whatever sounded just cold, Draco Alexander Snape had a warm ring to it, he thought.

And now he had a name again! And nobody was going to take it away from him! At least that was what he hoped. He couldn’t really see Severus taking his name back. For some reason, he felt safe with his godfa… father.

While Draco walked along the dungeon’s corridor to the Common Room with a new found swing in his steps, he wondered if he would ever call Severus ‘dad’ or ‘father’. Would he even appreciate that? Or maybe he wanted it?

As Draco walked into the Common Room, he stopped dead in his track, when he saw his friends and basically everyone in the room with huge arrays of food on tables and a banner on the ceiling: _Welcome back Draco Snape!_

Draco had tears in his eyes, when Pansy walked towards him through the cheering crowd, handed him a bouquet of flowers and hugged him tightly. “Welcome back, Dray!”

“You did this for me?” Draco whispered, not really trusting his voice right now. He looked around seeing so much sweet food it was sure to last for two weeks even if everyone had a go at it.

Pansy chuckled and shook her head. “It was all Harry. Who else do you think is so much affected by what you’re doing?”

Looking through the crowd, Draco found his ward sitting on a table with quite a lot of drinks, which he was handing out to other Slytherins.

Before he could go and talk to his ward, Draco was pulled into a hug by Millicent, Theodore and the Blaise as well. “We’re so glad you’re back to your normal self, Draco!” Blaise grinned.

“How can you tell?!” Draco laughed and shook his head.

“Your eyes are glowing!” Pansy called against the rising noise level when someone sat down on the piano and started playing some old dancing tunes and they all had an afternoon without cares.

Finally, after almost an hour, where Draco had tried and failed to get to talk to his ward, he managed to walk over to the table where Harry was still actively handing out drinks. When he recognized Draco, Harry beamed at him. “I have something for you!”

“Harry, you honestly don’t have to give me anything! You organized a whole party!”

Grinning, Harry shrugged his shoulders, before he presented Draco with his favorite whiskey choice. Stunned, Draco accepted the bottle and turned to look at his ward. “Don’t worry, Dray, I wasn’t able to buy that thing in the Muggle World. Pansy bought it for me and I had to promise not to drink all of it myself.” He grimaced again. “Which I don’t mind at all. You can have everything in there, I won’t drink any.”

Draco chuckled and hugged his ward. “Thank you Harry! But why did you organize a whole party in my name?”

“Because you are one of my most important friends! If that had happened to anybody else in my friend group, I would have done the exact same thing. It would be weird to do nothing when you finally get the happy ending you deserve!”

Harry smiled broadly and after a few silent seconds, he motioned towards the piano player. “I do have to admit, I like your piano music much more!”

Draco chuckled, slightly glad about the topic change. “Well, my music is supposed to be played alone in a dark room with nobody present. So, you won’t be able to get me up there.”

“If you promise me to play a song once more, some time, I will not pressure you into playing right now” Harry offered, while he handed out a few more drinks.

“You drive a hard bargain, Harry” Draco smirked. “I accept your conditions.”

Harry laughed and hugged Draco again. “Go and enjoy the party!”

*

Later that day, when the party finally stopped and everyone had helped cleaning up, Draco walked into his room only to find Harry sitting on the floor, reading and writing on a parchment.

“You know, normal people use desks to write on” Draco grinned.

Harry threw him a very short glaring look. Well, Draco didn’t take it serious, since he hadn’t stopped grinning. “I’m just channeling my child-like innocence I had when I did that.” He pointed to the parchment.

Draco snorted. “You were never innocent, Harry. Ever since you realized that Theodore for some reason doesn’t see you coming, you keep scaring him! That’s not innocent.”

This made Harry laugh and he shook his head. “Honestly, it’s just amusing to see Theo jumping into the air when I get him. That’s all there is. Still innocent, right?”

“No.” Draco chuckled. “Anyway, what are you writing?”

Harry looked up and smirked. “Finishing the story.”

“What story?”

“Ravo. The penguin.” Harry turned to parchment, so Draco could see it. There were two handwritings visible, his own neat and carefully placed one and then Harry’s child handwriting.

Even though they hadn’t written anymore of it, Draco immediately remembered what it was. “Ah, that story.” He was not going to ask how Harry had found the parchment which was buried under quite a lot of books and other parchments.  
Well, Harry apparently wasn’t going to say it, as he turned back to the story and shook his head. “I can’t believe you didn’t correct me, Draco! A penguin in Madagascar?”

Draco chuckled, while he shrugged his shoulders. “It was your idea, I wasn’t going to fight that.”

“Okay, but you should have fought against me naming the cake!” Harry seemingly wanted to be mad, but he had a lopsided grin on his face, which he couldn’t get rid of. “Now I can’t even make Ravo eat the strawberry cake when he’s hungry!”

“Well, I mean it’s your story. You can decide what you want to do with all the details.” Draco snorted when Harry widened his eyes in shock.

The former Gryffindor shook his head, flabbergasted. “It’s _our_ story and no one’s going to eat Ian!”

Draco laughed loudly and marched through the room. “So, have you finished the story, Harry?”

Harry smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, it’s finished once we decide it’s finished. Ravo’s school could be literally two minutes away, or the cat could be completely messed up and point him into the wrong direction.” He handed Draco the parchment, where their continued story could be read.

> **The Penguin Story**
> 
> Once upon a time, there was a small penguin in Madagascar. He wasn’t very happy, because while his brothers went to school, he stayed at home. With Mama Penguin. He always helped her, but Mama Penguin made sure he had a lot of fun. One day, Ravo decided that he wanted to go to school as well and he packed his little bag with two pieces of Chocolate, a piece of strawberry cake named Ian and his favorite teddy bear called Herbert.
> 
> In the forest, he lost sight of his older brothers. He called out to them, but nobody answered. Then, Ravo walked into a tree and a kitten fell down from the tree. Ravo has always liked kittens and so he asked it: ‘Are you okay?’
> 
> The kitten looked at Ravo and shook its head. ‘No. I fell down from the tree!’ and Ravo said: ‘You’re a kitten, so you landed on your feet!’
> 
> The kitten meowed and was sad. It said: ‘I don’t have anything to eat. Do you have chocolate for me? I’m a magical kitten that can eat chocolate!’
> 
> And Ravo looked into his backpack and found a piece of chocolate. He gave it to the kitten and said: ‘Of course I have chocolate! It’s the best! You can have it.’
> 
> The kitten was really happy and led Ravo through the jungle and stopped at the edge for the jungle. Ravo asked: ‘Aren’t you coming with me?’
> 
> And the kitten said: ‘No, you can go from here! Follow the path and you’ll end up at the school.’

Draco grinned over the innocence this story portrayed. When he looked up, he saw Harry roll his eyes. “Why did the cat say it was a _magical_ cat that could eat chocolate!?”

Harry seemed so frustrated over how this story was written, that Draco couldn’t stop himself from laughing loudly. “We’re not re-writing the story, Harry!”

“Oh come on! You can’t honestly say that it’s a good story!”

“I absolutely do not care whether or not the story makes sense. It was the story we wrote while you grew up, Harry. I’m not changing a thing. You can add, though” Draco offered and smirked over Harry rolling his eyes again. Well, there was a small smirk on his ward’s face.

Harry threw his hands into the air, in what seemed pure frustration. “ _Why is the cake named Ian?!_ ”

Draco burst out laughing and had to sit down on his chair, since he couldn’t stand on his feet from all the laughing. This one detail seemed to drive Harry mad and it was just too funny to see his reaction. Especially now that he was an adult. Draco couldn’t really remember whether or not Harry thought it was a problem when he was smaller. Now, it seemed to be the one point he couldn’t get over.

Sighing, Harry cast a spell on the parchment and smirked. “I finished the story, if you’re interested on reading the end. You are free to change whatever you don’t like, since it _is_ our story.” He got up and walked closer. “Please change the cake!” he whispered in now clear fake desperation.

“Absolutely not” Draco answered, ignoring the shiver that ran down his spine, and hit his ward over the head with the parchment, which led to Harry chuckling and leaving the room.

Draco smirked and turned to the newer handwriting, not willing to think about anything else. It wasn’t as messy as he remembered Harry’s handwriting to be. That was a clear sign that Pansy and Blaise had done a good job in teaching him reading and writing.

> The meandering road left Ravo frustrated. On the third turn he decided to cut his way shorter and wandered through the knee-high grass. Soon enough, he had once again lost his way and he sat down on a small rock by a stream and watched the water float down the calm landscape.
> 
> ‘I should have just stayed home’ Ravo said and looked into his backpack to find another piece of chocolate. **[Author’s note: Fuck Ian!]**
> 
> He really wanted to eat the chocolate, but since he didn’t know how long he would need to the school, he decided to get up again. When he did, he heard a voice from the stream.
> 
> ‘Are you lost?’
> 
> Ravo looked into the water and saw a rainbow colored fish swimming against the stream to keep up with him. ‘I am’ Ravo answered.
> 
> ‘Well, where do you want to go?’ the fish inquired again.
> 
> ‘I’m looking for my school. Well, for the school where my brothers are.’
> 
> The fish nodded **[Author’s note: can fish nod?]** and told him to go down the stream. ‘There’s a school there. We can swim there together, if you want.'
> 
> Ravo agreed and got into the water. ‘I’m Ravo by the way’ he said as he slithered along the stones.
> 
> ‘Callum’ the fish introduced himself and they swam to the school, where Ravo was then happily reunited with his brothers and they got to go home early so that Ravo’s mother wouldn’t freak out over him being gone.
> 
> **[Author’s note: How did you not realize that as a child I associated myself with Ravo? Anyway, I decided to make you the fish, since I’m a penguin. I hope you like the name Callum. Wait… I just realize, don’t penguins eat fish? Well… _shit_. Whatever: it’s a magical penguin. They don’t eat fish.]**

Draco chuckled about the ending and even more at Harry’s Author’s note at the end and decided to keep everything how it was. There were three very distinctive writing styles happening in this story and it was just adorable.


	74. Chapter 74

At dinner, Draco got a parchment delivered from Madam Pomfrey stating she wanted to get Harry into the Infirmary right after the feast to check him once again. There was also a hint of intent behind the writing that she seemed to want to keep Harry there over night. It was the night where he did turn back to his usual age. Alongside every Slytherin, Madam Pomfrey surely wanted to make sure he was doing fine.

And then there was the weekend… Draco did hope that Harry would come back to the Common Room so they could talk and just… He didn’t know what exactly he hoped for from all of this. He just wanted Harry to be back to normal. Maybe even better. Even now he was actually taller than Draco and he didn’t know what to think of it. Well, he knew he had done a tremendous job in raising Harry.

They went to the Infirmary right after dinner; however, not only Draco had walked there with Harry… Theodore, Pansy, Blaise and Millicent had all followed. Nobody seemed to be willing to let Harry go through with finally remembering everything. Actually, it wasn't that. He already did remember everything. They didn't want to... stop caring for him, it seemed.

It was on one hand amazing to have him back to his adulthood, but on the other hand, they had to realize that he was no longer in need of their rules and what they wanted to teach him. It was extremely weird, especially for Draco.

Harry was on a complete different path, as he made fun of all of them, though quite clearly hiding his nervousness of what would happen after tonight.

“Really, guys, if you don’t go out now, you might miss the party Slytherin’s holding since I’m finally not a teenager anymore and you guys are free of me” Harry grinned and got a light shove from Pansy.

He was sitting on his bed for the night Indian style, while Millicent and Blaise had gotten a chair and the rest stood around them.

Harry chuckled as he dodged Blaise’s joke attack. “How could you! I should scream for help, Madam Pomfrey would come running!”

“Go ahead, scream without a voice! See how far that get’s you!” Pansy joked, taking her wand out of her pocket. She did it, hiding it from Madam Pomfrey, probably just in case she thought they were actually threatening Harry.

Before Harry could say something, the mediwitch arrived and shook her head over them still being here. “I need to asses Mr. Potter here. It might take a while and you should all head back to your Common Room. Tomorrow, he will be back to his normal self!”

Millicent and Theodore bid goodbye the fastest. Pansy hugged Harry as well. “Make sure to survive the night, Harry!”

“Or what?” Harry smirked.

“Or I’ll follow you wherever you are and make you pay!” Pansy grinned and lightly slapped his cheek, which made Harry chuckle and roll his eyes.

Blaise high-fived Harry and told him to stay strong. And that only left Draco. He smiled at Harry, unsure of what to do now.

“Well” Draco started and looked at Madam Pomfrey who once again walked closer with all her medical things. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He quickly glanced at Harry and was about to turn around.

Harry nodded softly. “Draco.” He reached out and held him back by his arm. “Thank you. I don’t think I could have gone through all of this without you.”

Nodding once, Draco smiled and bowed slightly. Harry copied his action, and while they smiled at each other, Draco turned and walked out the door as fast as it was possible for him to do without making anybody suspect something.

Outside, Pansy stood there, clearly waiting for Draco. “Draco darling, how are you feeling?”

“Like I could really use a drink!”

Pansy laughed, linked her arm with Draco’s and they quietly walked down to the dungeon silently. When they passed Severus’ office, the door was open and Severus sat on the table, facing the door.

Draco smiled and changed directions, walking into his office. “Good evening, Professor Snape.”

Severus chuckled. “I don’t think in the past eight years I’ve ever heard you say that. So formal”, he stated, though his eyes were sparkling. “In that case, good evening Mr. Snape, Miss Parkinson. Would you like to join us this evening?”

Pansy looked at Draco’s new father and smiled. “No, thank you, professor. I might join on another occasion.”

“Still at Hogwarts or on another day? Perhaps the end of time?” Draco smirked and got a glare from his best friend, before she smiled at him innocently.

“Dray, will you be over to the Common Room in the next few hours?” Pansy asked from the door and nodded respectfully at their professor.

“Probably closer to curfew” Draco answered and Pansy smiled, waved at him and went to their Common Room, quite clearly deciding to wait in there for him. Draco knew she was even going to be there if he came back past curfew.

Severus passed the wine over to him and Draco sighed. “Why did I think wine was a good idea, yesterday?”

“I have some original American giggle-water, if that would be more your taste” Severus offered, smirking. He knew full well that Draco would never go for that. Why his godf… father had that always confused him. They usually drank whiskey or something else that was made here.

Draco shook his head. “Thank you, I’d rather accept the wine.”

Severus chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “So, I guess this adventure has come to an end?”

“It’s really weird. I can’t imagine living without Harry. He lights up every room he’s in. Plus, he already has things he does all the time. Scaring Theo, being stupid with Pans…” Draco rubbed his forehead. He had wanted to add something else, when his former godfather interrupted him.

He chuckled: “And you being in love with him.”

Draco narrowed his eyes. “It’s not that! Well, not only.” He took a sip of his wine and sighed. “A few months ago I would have laughed my arse off if someone would have told me I would be sad once Harry reached his actual age again. And now… here I am.”

“Maybe you need to look at it from a different angle, Draco: Harry’s now off age.” Severus then even had the audacity to wink at him.

“You are kidding me, right?!” Draco shook his head. “I’ve already told you that he would never be in a relationship with me. Come on, have you ever seen him with a guy?”

Severus crossed his arms over his chest. “No, but has he ever asked you about relationship advice or anything surrounding it? In my opinion, he’s just a late bloomer, Draco. Did you ever see him making the first step?”

Draco narrowed his eyes in thought and tried his hardest to remember how it had been. He had no idea with this Chang girl and Ginny… she had always been too focused on him when they were younger. A little like he had.

“There are rumors going around in the teacher’s lounge” Severus continued and chuckled. “I honestly think it’s a little untactful to talk about student’s relationships. Well, it’s the Golden Boy, now isn’t it?”

“What are the rumors, Severus?” Draco rolled his eyes.

Chuckling, Severus leaned forward, taking a sip of his wine and then crossed his legs. “There are rumors saying that Harry might not be into women at all. All the girls had asked him to go out. And there is also a rumor that that’s the reason why Miss Weasley and he didn’t get back together.”

Draco frowned. “They’re not?”

“Merlin, Draco!” Severus laughed and shook his head. “Get your act together, son, and…” he stopped and widened his eyes at the same time, when Draco did.

That was the first time Severus had called him son. It felt so much better and warmer than it had always felt when his former father had used that word. Usually, it had been followed up by what he had done wrong. They looked at each other and Severus smiled softly.

“What I wanted to say is that you can always ask Harry, now that he’s got all his memories back” he continued after a short silence.

Draco sighed and nodded. He finished his wine and got up. It wasn’t really curfew time, but he just needed a little time alone to think. “Thank you for this” Draco answered and added grinning: “Dad.”

Severus laughed and rolled his eyes. “Out!”

Smirking, Draco wandered the short distance to his Common Room and stayed with his friends for about an hour, before he went to his room. He read Harry’s short story again and fell asleep unceremoniously.


	75. Chapter 75

“Wake up, Draco!”

Draco groaned and pulled the blanked over his head, drowning out Pansy. He should have known better than to ignore her, as his blanked vanished and he glared at his best friend.

Sitting up in his bed, he sighed. “Why do you have to torture me like that Pans?”

Pansy grinned. “Come on, we want to go to the Hospital Wing before breakfast. Are you in?”

Why would they... Harry! Yes! He was definitely in! He quickly jumped up and got dressed. Pansy laughed over his enthusiasm and told him she’d be waiting in the Common Room. Also, he didn’t need to be as fast as possible, as Blaise was still in the shower.

Still, Draco was done quicker than usual and waited in the Common Room for his friends. If he had the courage, he would have gone up there on his own, however, he really wasn’t brave enough. Once they were all finally done, they headed up to the infirmary.

Madam Pomfrey was sitting at her desk writing something when they entered. The whole room was empty besides her. Draco frowned, when the mediwitch looked up and smiled. “Hello! Mister Potter has left about forty minutes ago. Everything went fine, I’m sure you’ll meet him around here!”

Draco was slightly mad that Harry hadn’t waited for them, but then again, he was now an adult and could basically do whatever he wanted. Pansy led them to the Great Hall, looking for Harry on every table, but not only was he missing, all his other friends were also not there. That included Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna. In fact, most of the Gryffindor crew of eight year wasn’t there. Then again, it was rather early this Saturday and the Lions were famous for sleeping as long as possible and almost not getting any breakfast.

While Draco really just wanted to keep on looking for Harry, Pansy made him sit down and get something to eat. They could continue looking for him once they had eaten something. Even though Draco was absolutely not happy with that, he knew better than to go against Pansy (especially when she was knowingly in the right).

So, once everyone had eaten enough (even though all of them had eaten less than usual), they got up and started looking for Harry again.

Around the corner, they almost walked into Neville. Pansy squealed and fell around his neck, which made Draco rush to the side, so he wouldn’t be thrown to the floor by his best friend’s over reaction. The Gryffindor was also slightly surprised, as he lost his book on the floor, when he hugged his girlfriend.

“Hi Neville” Millicent smirked and handed him the book back. “How are you?”

“Never mind that!” Blaise shook his head. “Have you seen Harry?!”

Neville laughed and after a quick kiss on Pansy's temple, he turned to Draco. “He was in Gryffindor tower this morning, brought food form the kitchen. Last I saw him; he decided to go out to the lake for some fresh air.” He then turned to Pansy. “Are you going as well?”

“Definitely!” Pansy rolled her eyes as if she couldn’t believe Neville had asked that.

The Gryffindor smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “Then I hope you don’t mind a Gryffindor tagging along.”

Draco shook his head and was already turning to get to the lake, hoping it wasn’t too bad to see his ward… his former ward now. When the group reached the lake, it seemed as if nobody had been there today. It also was slightly too early and too cold to be a nice place to stay.

“Are you sure Harry wanted to go to the lake?” Theodore asked and looked around. They walked closer to the edge of the lake, where you could see most of the land.

Just then, Harry appeared right next to them. “Hi guys.”

Theodore jumped and with a loud scream hid behind Blaise, who was holding his stomach, laughing so hard. Harry snorted, though he clearly tried not to let it show.

While Theodore was throwing around swear words, Draco looked closer at Harry. He was definitely taller, and he even looked stronger. And his facial expressions were so relaxed. But the biggest differences were his eyes: they were full of life and joy and even as Theodore continued swearing, his lopsided grin made him look absolutely handsome. The thing that hadn’t changed was his wild hair style, though it completely suited him.

“For Merlin’s sake, Harry, can you please stop scaring me?!” Theodore finally managed and rubbed his temples.

Harry threw his head back while he burst out laughing. It sounded so different, so confident. “Honest to God, Theo, this time I did not intent on scaring you. I thought you heard me coming!”

Pansy walked closer to Harry and opened her arms in a hug, which the former Gryffindor also accepted. “You look great, darling!”

“Right back at you, Pans!” Harry answered and kissed her cheek. He then touched his nose, apparently trying to straighten his nonexistent glasses.

Neville threw his hands into the air and called out: “Hey, this is my girl! Get your own!”

Harry smirked. “Neville, I have absolutely no intention in getting your girl. We’re just friends. Right, Pans?”

“Definitely!” Pansy answered and winked at her Gryffindor. Neville shook his head, though the smirk on his face revealed that he had only been joking, right alongside Harry and Pansy.

Millicent also walked over to hug Harry and he accepted that as well, giving her a kiss on her cheek as well. This was all followed by a high-five from Blaise and when Harry turned over to Theodore with a huge grin on his face, the Slytherin rolled his eyes.

“Come here, old man!” Harry called out and grabbed Theodore in a hug, before turning around and throwing him into the water. “Now _that_ was what I intended on doing!”

The group burst out laughing, mostly unable to believe what just happened. Theodore quickly climbed out of the lake, wild eyes, though he dried himself and looked up with the calculated Slytherin eyes that were definitely planning something. “That was one step too far, Harry! I hope you’re ready for what I’m throwing your way!”

Harry grinned and nodded. “You better bring it!” 

He then turned to Draco. “Thank you, Draco. Really. Your only job was to look after me and you did so much more! I feel as if I had a happy childhood, even though I _know_ that was absolutely not the case. But with everything you – all of you – did, I have a warm feeling when I think back at my childhood.” Harry chuckled. “It’s still confusing in my brain, since I have two memories of one year, but it’s rather easy to distinguish them.”

Draco smiled weakly. “No worries, Harry. It was quite easy to take care of you.”

“I do not believe that for a second, but let’s pretend I do” Harry winked at him and cleared his throat. “Anyway, thank you.”

Pansy was the next person to speak up: “Don’t worry, Harry. You brought a lot of happiness into our Common Room, so we should be thanking you.”

Harry smirked. “Well, in that case you should thank Seamus.”

“I’ll make sure to tell him that he doesn’t have to hide anymore from the Slytherin gang” Neville added and put an arm around his girlfriend. Pansy snickered and shook her head.

Draco smiled over their interaction. He desperately wanted to ask Harry about… well, whether or not he was gay. But he couldn’t just change the topic like that and definitely not in front of everyone. So for now, he was happy listening to his friends, Neville and Harry having fun. He would have never thought of saying something like that half a year ago.

“So what do you do now?” Neville asked Harry. “Do you already have a room with the Slytherins? If not, I would feel no shame in hosting you in our old room for a night! You know nostalgia and stuff like that!”

Harry chuckled. “No thanks, Neville. Seamus would probably freak out. And I do have a meeting with Severus in” he checked his watch “five minutes. Damn, I’ll have to run!”

Neville grinned. “Or you could just revert back to the old Gryffindor Harry Potter and be late some thirty minutes or so?”

“Sadly, my friend, someone taught me manners!” he said as if it was the last thing on earth that he wanted. He winked at Neville and motioned towards his girlfriend. “Be careful when you’re on a date with Pansy!”

“Oh no, it was you!?” Neville asked and looked at his girlfriend as if that was a huge mistake.

Pansy arched her eyebrows quickly and smirked. “If you’re ever late, you have now been officially warned!”

Harry chuckled. “I’ll see you around, guys!” With that he waved and hurriedly ran up to the castle. Draco could see him charging through the dungeon right now very well. He was definitely not going to make it. Unless he knew some kind of short cut.

Turning to Theodore, Draco smirked. “Are you okay, Theo? Do you maybe want a few ideas for how you could get back at Harry?”

“No need. I’m going to Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes today. They’ll surely have something for me.”

“Just don’t mention you want it for pranking Harry. They’re clearly strongly attached to your Slytherin hero” Neville answered and kissed Pansy’s temple. “I’m going to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch training now, they'll start in fifteen minutes. See you around.”

Pansy stood there for a second, before she grinned and shrugged her shoulders. “Nev, wait!” She waved quickly and ran after her boyfriend.

Draco sighed. “Well then, it’s not even nine in the morning, I might just go back to my room and sleep more.”

“Try not to let Severus find you” Millicent sniggered.

While he yawned, he shook his head. “I’m just saying that I couldn’t sleep during the night. That’s believable, right?”

Blaise and Millicent agreed, while Theodore only chuckled. Draco turned around and walked back up towards the castle, wondering how his life had come to this. Not that is was something bad; Harry was now an adult and he was in Slytherin. Most importantly, they seemed to be on good terms which was a good start for a relationship, right? Now he just needed to find the courage to ask Harry whether or not he was gay and if he wanted to go on a date with him. Just minor questions, right?


	76. Chapter 76

Harry had gotten his own room after lunch. Everyone on Slytherin had been overly enthusiastic, he had been welcomed with a banner as well that read _Welcome to Slytherin, Harry Potter_. There was so much food everywhere that no matter where you were, there was too much edible stuff.

They had partied far too long that day and it had ended in Harry getting trapped in one of the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes magical traps, which the former Gryffindor thought was hilarious. Theodore had apparently been satisfied afterwards, since the two of them could be seen around each other joking and laughing.

Pansy and Blaise had also started a dance and Harry had joined them quickly as well. They had all been doing stupid stuff and laughed. Millicent sat by the side taking a lot of pictures with Pansy’s very own camera. Nobody seemed to care and even though Draco knew that Harry usually hated to have his picture taken, right now he was just having a good time. Which you could tell.

Once Harry had gotten his official room, Draco had gone to his now-father and asked whether or not things were okay. Apparently, Harry had finally gotten to hear all the rules there were in Slytherin. For some unforeseen reason, however, the former Gryffindor had joked that it didn’t really matter to him, since he would be gone in about two or three months anyway.

Draco had smirked and shook his head over how much Harry had changed. He wasn’t that scared of repercussions, and he was quite clearly happy with his life. Even though Draco wanted a little bit more – a relationship with the Golden Boy to be exact – he was glad that Harry felt that way.

So, when everyone was tired, the food surprisingly almost gone, Draco stayed back with a few others to clean up the Common Room. A shadow made him look up and he found Harry standing next to him. He started to grab a few things for the trash as well.

“Are you okay, Draco?” Harry asked.

Draco nodded weakly. “Of course, Harry. Just tired.” He couldn’t. He just couldn’t ask him right now. Something was holding him back.

Harry chuckled. “You should have stayed true to your own rules about bed time, then!”

He grabbed a red paper snake and tore it out behind the couch. Draco watched him and shook his head. “Adults don’t have bed times anymore.”

“That’s what _you_ think.”

Draco had almost dumped all the trash over Harry, but at the last second, put the bucket down again. Harry had clearly been ready to save himself from the rain of garbage.

He chuckled, once Draco put it down again. “You’ve gotten soft, Draco. A few months ago, you would have definitely emptied it over me!”

“A few months ago, I wouldn’t have emptied this thing over a fellow Slytherin” Draco shrugged his shoulders.

“Of course” Harry answered. There was a weird knowing grin on his face. Before he could comment more or before Draco could say something, Pansy walked by and told Harry to go to bed, since they were going to do the work! And it was already three a.m.

Apparently, Harry wasn’t going to argue with her and waved at them, before he left the Common Room, heading to his own room and quite possibly falling asleep while he was standing in the middle of it.

About two hours later, Draco groaned and got out of bed. He grabbed his absolute favorite jumper, which Severus had given him once they had been father and son, and he walked out into the dark Common Room. It looked as if the House Elves had been there, since it looked spotless once more.

Sighing, Draco wandered to the piano which thanks to its position right in front of the door to their party room, had been played far too many times over the course of the last few weeks. Draco smiled at it, sitting down and pushed a key.

The sound still produced the same kind of magic and once this one music key stopped echoing in the air; Draco looked back down, placing his hand on the keys again. Without any warm-up, he started to play. Draco chuckled when he hit a note that didn’t quite match and after a few minutes, he beamed at the piano.

Every note was the right one! Perfection didn’t mean everything had to be perfect! It meant that you enjoyed what you were doing and life was good. And that was what was happening, right?

Draco closed his eyes, felt his fingers fly over the keys, heard the music hit the silence of the night and he moved to the beat that didn’t exist without him letting it exist. Suddenly, he smelt something as a mixture between cinnamon and rose and he frowned.

He stopped playing and opened his eyes to find Harry standing in the middle of the Common Room, smiling at him. They shared a few second of silence, until Harry chuckled softly. That sound made Draco shudder slightly, it was beautiful.

“You didn’t have to stop playing because of me, Draco. I heard music and I thought maybe you wanted to play without everyone else waking up” Harry explained.

Draco widened his eyes. “I forgot the silencing charm! How did that happen?!”

How indeed did that happen? He had never in his entire life forgotten to silence his music. Maybe it was because at home, his father had always told him to keep it down whenever he had sat on the piano. He had never realized how good he had gotten. Actually, neither had his mother, since most of the time, he had played Jazz, when this silencing charm had been up.

“Don’t look so terrified, Draco! I couldn’t sleep anyway. I’m very sure nobody woke up from your music. And if you’d rather have me leave you, since you know” he shrugged his shoulders, “you told me your music was supposed to be played alone in the dark; I will do that without any problem.”

Draco smiled and shook his head. “Thank you, Harry.” He didn’t say anything and apparently Harry took that as an ‘I want to be alone’, as he nodded and turned around.

“If you want…” Draco started again and looked down at the keys. “If you _remember_ , we could play together?”

The beaming smile that crossed Harry’s face was worth absolutely everything, as he nodded. “I would never forget that, Draco! That’s one of my favorite memories!”

He walked closer and Draco shuffled to the side so Harry could sit on the chair as well. He was so close... The smell of cinnamon and rose was definitely coming from him and Draco had suddenly quite a lot of trouble focusing on the piano.

“Alright” Draco cleared his throat and nodded. He played the first few beats, letting Harry remember what he had taught him a few weeks or months ago.

Without any problem, Harry slipped into his music and they played music together. Draco showed him a few other bass movements and without anybody noticing, they had spent two hours on the piano. Only once Harry yawned and stretched, Draco checked the time and widened his eyes. He cancelled the silence charm and looked at Harry.

He couldn’t stop himself from parenting… “You should go to bed, get at least another thirty minutes sleep.”

Harry nodded, rubbing his forehead. “Yes, just give me a few moments.”

“Are you okay, Harry?” Draco asked and frowned. From one second to the next, he suddenly looked really ill.

Shaking his head, Harry frowned as if he was in pain and yawned. “I just need to sleep, that’s all.” He got up and stumbled over his own feet. Draco quickly cast a soft landing and got up himself. Harry lay there motionless and Draco widened his eyes.

Without much said, he cast a floating spell and hurried through the halls, Harry floating in tow until he reached the Hospital Wing.

“Something happened to Harry” he explained, not really surprised to see the mediwitch already awake. “He suddenly looked ill, he was tired and I think he had headaches.”

Madam Pomfrey quickly cast some spells, while Draco – once again – sat in the Hospital Wing, fearing for Harry’s well being. After a solid fifteen minutes, where the mediwitch was casting quite a few spells, some of which Draco wasn’t sure were even real spells, she seemed to have calmed down.

She walked over to her cabinet and took out a quite strong dreamless sleep potion, which she then gave Harry. After that, she turned to Draco. “Thank you for bringing him, Mr. Snape. You can put your mind at rest; he’s just getting sick. After ageing so rapidly, his body has to learn to adjust to the normal ageing rate. He might be sick for a week, we’ll see about that. For today, he will sleep. If you’d like to see him, I would suggest coming by tomorrow afternoon for about half an hour.”

Draco nodded relieved. “Thank you, Madam Pomfrey!”

The mediwitch nodded and before Draco could leave, she told him: “Please tell your father to come here after breakfast. That way we can also potentially help with potions, Mr. Snape.”

“I will, thank you.”

With that he left the infirmary, incredibly glad that nothing extremely bad had happened to Harry. He could have never forgiven himself if he hadn’t done something, after having seen something like that.


	77. Chapter 77

Pansy definitely assumed something, when afternoon came around and Draco was incredibly nervous, walking circles in his own room. He had been nervous all day long, even though first he'd had no idea why. The only thing he knew was that Harry had been the center of his thoughts lately.

While he kept walking, his best friend leaned in his doorframe, observing him quietly. Only after Draco had walked about twenty more rounds, did she speak up. “Are you trying to find water?”

“What?”

Pansy gestured at the circles he had walked. “If you continue that, you might be so deep into the earth that you’ll find the lake. Please close your door though; I don’t want our Common Room drowned, because you can’t keep your thoughts _straight_.”

Draco stopped dead in his track and turned around towards his best friend since childhood, who grew a lopsided sneer. Did she really just... She couldn't know, right? It had been news to himself a few...

“What are you talking about, Pans?” he asked, pretending not to have noticed her emphasizing a very special word in her speech. She didn't know. He had kept it a well guarded secret, right? She couldn't have known.

Pansy chuckled, entered his room and closed the door behind her. “Dray, we’ve been friends for so long! Do you really think you can keep something like that from me?”

Draco frowned. “How long did you know?”

“Two years give or take.”

“ _Two years_?! I haven’t figured it out until a few days ago!” Draco shook his head, unable to process that his best friend knew something like that so much longer than he had.

Pansy chuckled and walked over to hug him. “At least you found out about it, darling. It would be weird with how much Harry’s got his eyes on you…”

Draco looked at her with wide eyes. “He… what?”

This made Pansy laugh loudly and she shook her head. “Draco honestly, when we found him at the lake, he greeted all of us. Except you. He didn’t know how to. And during the party, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. He’s absolutely into you.”

“You’re just… I… That’s not true” Draco shook his head. “I didn’t… He…” He couldn’t get his thoughts organized. Harry was into him? He had never even realized that. Yes, he did realize that Harry even hugged Theodore, but he assumed that was more so he could throw him into the lake. Then again, he had high-fived Blaise. He could have done that with him as well.

“Both of you are helplessly in love with each other.”

Draco shook his head again. “I don’t even know if he’s gay! Nobody knows!”

Pansy smirked. “Which is why I’m going to ask him today.” With that she walked out and it took Draco about five seconds, before he realized what that meant. Widening his eyes, he raced out of his room, almost crashing into Theodore, before evading him at the last second.

He stormed after Pansy and found her by Severus’ office just around the corner. She definitely had been running as well. “Pansy, you can’t do that! What if he says no!?”

“Well, someone has to do it. And since you’re too scared of what he would think of you, I’ll do it.” Pansy shrugged her shoulders. “You can come as well, if you want to know what he’ll say about it.”

Draco had still wide eyes, when Pansy rolled hers and grabbed his arm, dragging him with her. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his father walk out of the office and looking after them with a slight grin on his face.

Madam Pomfrey eyed them suspiciously as if she thought someone else was coming in, as they entered the Hospital Wing, and directed them towards the end, where Draco found Harry half asleep with some spells that kept light away.

“Hi Pansy, hey Draco” Harry said quietly and smiled weakly.

“How are you feeling?” Draco asked worriedly. He ignored Pansy’s triumphant looks into his direction. He was well aware that he had lost his fight with trying to pretend he didn’t care about Harry.

The former Gryffindor nodded tired. “As if I’d need about a hundred years of sleep to be back to my normal self. How about you?”

Pansy sat down on the chair next to Harry’s bed and on the opposite side of Draco. “We were really worried! I just heard that Draco had to bring you to the Hospital Wing again! I thought you were good now!”

Harry turned his head lazily to look at her. “Yeah, I can’t remember what happened. I just know that I sat next to Draco and then I woke up here with Madam Pomfrey doing all kinds of spells on me to keep me stable. I think she was worried I’d bite the dust.”

“You could have died?” Pansy widened her eyes in clear shock. Even Draco wasn’t sure whether or not the mediwitch had told him the whole truth.

Only a tired chuckle could relax Draco, as Harry shook his head. “I’m just messing with you about that part. But the rest is true.”

“Even when you’re sick, you’re an abysmal human being!” Pansy rubbed her face, clearly taking this thing too serious.

Harry snorted weakly and turned back to Draco. “Sorry for scaring you in the Common Room.” There was something in his eyes. Draco was sure that he didn't imagine it. Something was going on. If Pansy was right... Draco didn't know what exactly was going on. Or rather, he didn't dare to hope.

“I’m honestly just glad you’re okay now. Try to take it easy, Harry.”

Nodding, Harry closed his eyes. “I don’t have much energy anyway. So I can’t do anything else but lie here and be half asleep twenty four hours of the day.”

Draco could tell that Pansy had been waiting for the perfect moment to ask her question and this seemed to be it, when the door opened and a few Gryffindors walked in. Namely, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny.

Pansy gave Draco an apologetically look and greeted her boyfriend. Draco on the other hand was rather happy that Harry didn’t get the chance to say ‘I’m not gay what are you talking about’.

Hermione leaned over Harry and Draco stepped back a few steps so Harry’s best friend could be closer to him. Was it just him or… had there been something of sadness in Harry’s eyes when he stepped away?

If there was, he didn’t let anybody else feel it, as he greeted his friends. “Hi ‘Mione, Ron, hey Ginny.”

“And I’m not getting a greeting?” Neville asked who had put both his arms around Pansy, hugging her from the back.

Harry smiled weakly, turning to him as well. “Goodbye Neville.”

Neville chuckled and shook his head, kissing the top of Pansy’s head. Draco watched Harry smile weakly and then turning back to his other friends. There was something in his eyes, something like… jealousy? How had he never seen something like that?! Maybe Harry was just too tired to hide his true emotions… Or maybe Draco was just interpreting everything wrongly!

“I’m really glad you’re back with the living, Harry. You just have to try and keep your eyes open for longer than an hour” Ron joked and chuckled as Harry rolled his eyes.

“Once I’m back to full strength, I’ll get you too, Ron.”

Hermione shook her head over how her two best friends were behaving. “We just came to see whether or not you’re okay. But I think there are a few too many people here for you, huh?” she asked as Harry closed his eyes for a little longer than usual.

“I’m just tired” Harry answered and smiled weakly.

“We understand. Once you’re feeling better, we’d be happy to be here for longer than five minutes, Harry.”

Hermione motioned Ron to go and Neville bid goodbye as well, grabbing Pansy and pulling her out as well. She probably had no problem with it, though Draco knew she still wanted to ask Harry about whether or not he was gay.

The only person left was now Ginny who took Pansy’s seat. “Harry, once you’re back to your normal self, do you think we could have that discussion we wanted to have almost five months ago?”

Harry frowned slightly and then relaxed. “Ah, yes, of course.” He grinned at her. “I am really sorry. You know I am usually late, but not five months.”

Ginny chuckled. “Don’t worry, Harry, you had a rather strong excuse. I mean, I saw you as baby.” She pushed some of Harry’s strains of hair out of his face and smiled. “Actually, talking about that, I am really disappointed that I can’t have a small Harry Potter running around my living room. You make an adorable baby!”

Draco noticed how Harry was extremely tired, as he chuckled with what seemed to be the last reserve of energy he had left. “Oh well, some things can be arranged, Gin.”

“Sleep tight, Harry.”

Harry nodded and in the middle, he seemed to fall asleep. He looked extremely relaxed and Draco almost couldn’t tear away his eyes. A hand on his shoulder made him jump and he saw Ginny grinning at him.

“I have a feeling we need to talk, Draco.”

Draco shook his head. “Unlikely.” He didn't want his hopes crushed. And this Gryffindor probably knew everything about Harry. What if she wanted to tell him that he should stop with figuring out whether or not Harry was gay? He wasn't ready to give up... Or maybe he had already given up? Draco sighed. Everything was so confusing.

He wanted to walk by Ginny, who blocked his way, shaking her head. “I highly doubt that you don’t want to hear that. And I think it’s in Harry’s wishes that I tell you.”

“Shouldn’t you wait until Harry gives you his actual consent on doing something?” Draco asked while Ginny linked their arms and headed down to the kitchen.

The Gryffindor shook her head, as if she knew what Harry would have wanted. Once they reached the kitchen, they sat down at the table, where Draco had once held baby Harry trying to figure out what had happened with his life.

“First off, you should know that Harry and I are no longer together.”

Draco nodded. “I haven’t seen you around, looking after him, so I assumed so, yes.”

Ginny chuckled. “After the war, both of us had quite a lot of trouble, understanding what our relationship was. That was when we decided to take a break, figuring ourselves out first, before we would be back together.”

“That is surprisingly adult of both of you.” Draco said with a small smirk.

The Gryffindor grinned. “On that rather fateful day where Seamus made a huge mistake, both of us said that we had other ideas of relationships. Most likely… same sex relationships.”

Draco stopped breathing. He stared at Ginny as if she had just told him… that all his wishes could have some sort of reality in them. “He…” Once again, he couldn’t say anything. Today was seriously messing with his head.

“We wanted to talk it through, see where we were at and yeah, figure out how to tell the Wizarding World that their favorite it-couple would no longer exist” Ginny rolled her eyes and grinned. “And I especially wanted to tell him to finally stop dancing around you as if that was the only way to get your attention. It looks like he found another way of getting under your skin.”

She smirked and apparently decided to leave it at that, as she winked at him and got up to leave. Draco was too confused and flabbergasted and yes, hopeful, to say anything against that.

_Harry was gay…_


	78. Chapter 78

Harry stayed in the Hospital for almost a week. Draco had been over every day, always for another reason and on Saturday he had finally run out of good ones. He was sure neither Madam Pomfrey, nor any of his friends and Harry had believed him to be there, because he wanted to learn more about DADA. He hadn’t even taken the class anymore…

Sunday morning, Madam Pomfrey decided to let him leave, only if everyone would look after Harry so he wouldn’t do anything stupid that day. Something that would take too much energy away from him. Naturally, all Slytherins had accepted responsibility.

When he entered the Common Room, with Millicent and Theodore in tow, Pansy jumped up immediately and led him to their secret spot. “How are you feeling, Harry?”

“Like I had the sleep of my life! I feel so much younger and calmer right now” he grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Also, how much stuff did I miss?”

He wanted to grab a book, when Draco took it out of his reach. “No. You’re not jumping back into school stuff, Harry. Today, you’re going to relax and enjoy yourself, okay?”

Harry held up his hands in mocking surrender. “Yes, sir!”

“That’s the spirit!” Blaise smirked and got up, quite clearly going to the kitchen to get hot chocolate.

Pansy shot Millicent a look and she called after Blaise so she could help him. Then, Pansy excused herself to go looking for Neville, and Theodore went to his own room to study. Harry smirked and lay down on the couch, feet dangling off on one end.

Draco shook his head. “Yes, absolutely normal how everyone has just left all of a sudden.”

Harry chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Half believable, actually. The only person slightly out of character would be Millicent. I’m not sure if she would have helped Blaise getting chocolate if Pansy hadn’t told her to do so.”

“I need to tell her to make it less obvious then, if even you figured it out” Draco teased.

Harry laughed and turned his head to face him. “I grew up surrounded by Slytherins, Draco. All of you. So I had a lot of time figuring out how you work and what kind of nonverbal signs you all use.”

Draco frowned at his former ward. “What do you mean?”

“Pansy works a lot with her eyes. If you’re not sure whether or not she’s joking, her eyes will tell you the truth. If she wants you to do something, she’ll get where she wants even without telling you to do so. Outsiders think you’re the leader of this group, but I’m also somehow sure that she’s got all of you under _her_ control.” Harry grinned. “Blaise enjoys joking around, he speaks a lot with his hands and eye rolls when he’s not happy with something. Millicent is a little harder to place, but I think she’s taking Pansy as an idol in nonverbal communication. She also works a lot with eye movement and facial expressions. Theodore on the other hand has a lot in his brain and concentrates on that. He’s much more focused whenever he’s giving you nonverbal signals. Also, he seems to be using his whole body for that.”

Harry really seemed to have them all figured out. He had named them all. Except for him. Harry sat up and looked at Draco. They were exactly opposite from each other and Draco felt himself breathing faster.

The former Gryffindor was so good-looking. The way his smile was so honest and soft made Draco want to look away, get some more air for his lungs, but he just couldn’t. Cinnamon and rose filled the air around them as if the scent had just waited for him to recognize it.

The school uniform fit him so well, and he could still see that Harry was ripped under his shirt. Too late did he realize that he had stared at Harry’s stomach for a while. Draco wet his lips and turned back to Harry, slightly flushed.

“And then, there’s you” Harry continued softly. Draco’s head was spinning as he tried to focus on his eyes rather than moving lips. “And you’re still a mystery to me.”

The lips transformed into a soft smile, which made the heat in Draco’s body rise. “I’m not…” Draco’s voice was slightly hoarse. He still decided to continue. “I’m no mystery.”

Harry smiled again, while Draco was about to freak out. What was Harry doing to him?! All it took was… one look. One look and he had been a goner. One smile.

“To me, you’re the biggest mystery of them all, Draco Alexander Snape.”

Holy _shit_ … Harry saying his full name was so much better than he had ever thought. Draco tried to clear his throat, though was unable to do so. It was much too hot in here to get any productive thoughts running.

Getting up, Harry moved to the seat right next to Draco. If he had trusted his knees right now, Draco would have taken flight right this second. He was not prepared for this at all. Yes, he had dreamed about Harry telling him… things. But not this soon… Was it too soon? No, it was absolutely not too soon.

“You also prefer to speak through your eyes, but nothing could take away your voice. And you prefer big actions, like hugs and laughter, than small eye contacts” Harry continued. “You tried to be a, what they call true Slytherin, cold and collected. But deep down” Harry placed his hand on Draco’s knee and squeezed slightly. “You love physical contact. Which is why Pansy is your best friend, she’s a rather physical friend.”

Draco managed to clear he throat this time. He stared at Harry’s strong hand on his knees. “Harry, don’t you think…” His mind wasn’t working. Harry was to close. He could feel his warm skin through his pants and he tried to get some air into his lungs. Everything just smelled like cinnamon and roses.

To his left he felt Harry chuckle slightly. “What? Me being turned into a baby, you being awarded my Magical Guardian and then having to grow up once again surrounded by Slytherins is problematic? No. I don’t think that would be a problem. Do _you_ think it’s weird or problematic?”

Draco inhaled shakily. No. Not at all. After what felt like eternity, he finally managed to keep his thoughts together and answer. “I don’t know. It feels a little weird to me. But, what feels even weirder is that I have… That I have feelings for you and I don’t know how to work with it, seeing that I have practically raised you…”

Oh Merlin. He had not just said that… Harry didn’t take away his hand from his knees. And while Draco tried to fight against the rising panic attack in his brain, Harry’s other hand came to tenderly cup his cheek and turn Draco’s face. Harry’s eyes looked so soft and he smiled even softer.

“Thank you for telling me Dray. I have feelings for you as well and I would like to see where it goes. As for that other thing…” Harry smirked, pretending as if it wasn’t such a big deal. “Just think about it that way: If we would have been together before I was turned into a baby, you would have taken care of me as well, right?”

Draco stared at Harry unable to move. Did that just happen? All his thoughts were racing and he tried to understand what was going on.

If they had been a couple before the accident happened, would he have taken care of Harry? Hell yes. “Of course!”

Harry’s smile grew. “And would it have been weird?”

“Maybe a little” Draco answered much faster than before.

Harry chuckled. “Well, I can work with ‘a little weird’. How about you?”

Draco was unable to answer, lost in a world of Harry’s emerald green eyes. They were so calm, so happy… so full of love. For him. Nobody else. His eyes travelled down to Harry’s lips and then back up to his eyes, still unable to say anything.

And well, unable to resist, he put his arms around Harry’s neck, leaning in so close that they were breathing the same air. “A little weird is nothing to me.”

Harry smiled softly and he closed the short distance without any more words. Draco felt electricity travel through his body as soon as their lips locked and he sighed into the kiss. He had waited so long for this and for Harry.

Time stopped as Draco realized he was _kissing_ Harry Potter. His heart sped up, though he was only able to concentrate on how soft his lips were and how perfect they moved to his rhythm. His whole body tingled as he tried to separate, when Harry caught the upper hand, intensifying the kiss. Draco pressed his hand against Harry’s chest, holding onto the fabrics for dear life, until he thought he was about to pass out and they separated, panting.

He licked his lips, looking back up at Harry who had the most amazing soft eyes he had ever seen. The small smile on his lips as he carefully brushed a loose strain from Draco’s face was everything he needed to go back for another kiss.

Harry pulled him closer, glued together. His skin was radiating heat off and Draco felt so happy, warm. Loved. Harry brought his hand up, cupping his cheek and tracing with his fingers over Draco’s ear. He needed some air to figure out what was going on.

“Stop, please” Draco panted, as he separated just quick enough to say these words, before kissing Harry again. His brain was just sending mixed signals. But all he really wanted was to be kissing Harry.

The former Gryffindor let go of Draco, panted and started to laugh quietly. “Are you telling me to stop kissing you, when you continue? I am confused.”

Draco rolled his eyes, trying to get his lungs to work properly again. “No, Harry. I was just confused.”

“Well, sorry about that.”

Before Draco could say something, Harry actually pulled him onto his lap and slightly looked up at him. After the first surprise, Draco grinned, leaning in and softly touching Harry’s lips with his own.

“What’s going on here?!” A voice interrupted them and Draco, jumped and turned around to see Blaise standing there with six cups of hot chocolate on a plate, Millicent having her face in her hands and Pansy about to freak out. Probably over how Blaise had destroyed their moment.

Harry cleared his throat, chuckling softly. “And then, there are things that never change” he stated and winked at Draco.


	79. Chapter 79

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad you all liked the last chapter ;)
> 
> For absolutely no reason whatsoever, I have decided to give you another chapter now :) Enjoy!

> _The essence of Transfiguration derives from early years of witches and wizards. In order to obnubilate their identities and their magic, they would swiftly change objects into mundane household ones such as owls which would be transformed into mice or goblets and Kneazels into customary house felines. To understand how Transfiguration genuinely works, one has to understand the history of..._

Draco glared at the poor book as if it was the reason the author chose to use words and sentences that didn’t make sense and also… he had been studying for a few hours and probably couldn’t form one decent sentence.

“Well, the _essence_ of Draco Alexander Snape is about to explode over how stupid this fucking class is!” he said and growled, before finally giving up.

He had just left the library, when he heard familiar sounding steps and turned around to see his boyfriend walking closer.

“I thought I’d find you in the library!” Harry was walking closer, grinning broadly. Well, Harry had been correct, he had stayed in the library since shortly after breakfast and he really had _tried_ to get the meaning of whatever text he read, but it was too much…

“Good Morning to you too, Harry.” Draco smirked. “And you weren’t entirely correct, since I’m now standing _outside_ the library.”

Harry rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Okay, since we’re already nitpicking everything, it’s no longer morning and I came to abduct you to the kitchen. How does that sound?”

Draco smiled and nodded. “Promising. I would have loved a picnic though as well. I need some fresh air, if the weather’s fine, that is.”

“Way ahead of you… well, not really, but almost” Harry laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve asked the House Elves to make us some picnic food and we’re supposed to go and get it in the kitchen.”

Shaking his head, Draco walked closer to Harry. “You really are my dream man!”

Harry chuckled “I am trying really hard on that, Dray.”

“Well, stop trying; you’re already doing a good job!”

They silently walked down to the kitchen, accepting a small basket and then headed outside to where they had sat a few weeks ago, where Draco had finally realized what he felt for Harry. While Harry eagerly looked through the basket and the food inside, Draco watched him closely. The former Gryffindor looked actually hungry and interested in the food, which made Draco actually proud of him.

“I know what you’re doing, Draco and you need to stop it.” Harry said, not looking away from the basket and taking out a piece of Treacle Tart.

Draco quickly took it away and shook his head. “We’re not starting with dessert! And I have no idea what you’re saying.”

Harry laughed, taking another piece of Treacle Tart out of the basket, but hid it from Draco, even though they both knew he had seen it.

“You’re thinking about how far I’ve come to actually be happy when I think about food. And that I actually want to eat” Harry offered and Draco grinned, nodding. He got caught; there was nothing he could say against it.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “I will not feel ashamed for giving you back your appetite. And I’m pretty sure, Severus is one of the people as well who was helping me in keeping you healthy.”

“Yes, well, he isn’t here, now is he?” Harry grinning, biting into the Treacle Tart, before he looked around as if he was looking for their potion’s professor.

Chuckling softly, Draco shook his head, checking for something to eat in the basket and found some sandwiches with different contents. He grabbed one and leaned back, looking over the Black Lake. For a while, they silently watched the waves, the creatures under water and the few clouds rushing through the sky.

Draco had just wanted to comment on how beautiful it was when Harry sat up and opened his own satchel, taking out a parchment. He seemed to look for something else and finally took out a thin book, which he did not show the title just yet. Slightly intrigued by the secrecy, Draco sat up properly as well and frowned at his boyfriend.

“I probably need to tell you something” Harry said and smiled encouragingly. “I got a letter two days ago and… _yes_ , I was still in the Hospital Wing” he interrupted himself, when Draco had just wanted to ask exactly that question. He seemed to be able to read his mind.

Harry smirked, before he continued. “Remus sent me a letter and it had your original letter inside.”

“Which one? I’ve grown quite accustomed to writing Remus, even if he didn’t write back immediately.”

Wordlessly, Harry passed him one of the parchments and Draco frowned, though he still accepted it and read through it.

> Good evening Remus
> 
> Thank you for the pictures of you and your friends, I’m pretty sure Harry will love them. I’ll give them to him as soon as I’m done writing a response.
> 
> Harry has finally turned thirteen – a while ago actually – and I’ve taught him the Patronus. It feels weird since I know you’ve been the one to teach him when he was younger. As a matter of fact that is also one of the reasons I’m writing you today.
> 
> I’ve taught myself the Patronus in fifth year and I always found solace in it – a swallow. But today, when I taught Harry, I think something happened to my Patronus. It changed. I now have a stag… Is that normal?
> 
> Could you maybe help me in finding out what it means? I’m really confused by it and I can’t seem to figure out why I don’t have a swallow anymore. Not that I’m complaining much, since I am rather proud of this animal, but still. I’m utterly confused.
> 
> Please let me know if there’s something you know.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Draco Lucius Malfoy

“Oh, that one” Draco said, frowning. Damn, he was still a Malfoy then… His name looked weird there.

Well, that wasn’t the point of this letter. He had completely forgotten about it and the fact that his Patronus was the same as Harry’s. Apparently, there was something important happening, though.

Harry nodded, pointing at his own letter. “Remus wrote that he didn’t feel it was a good time to tell you what it meant that your Patronus changed. Since I was still a teenager and it would have probably destroyed the bond we had then.”

Draco frowned. “You’re scaring me slightly, what does it mean?”

His boyfriend smiled slightly and opened the book he had in his hands to a specific page. He started to read with such a soft voice that Draco was instantly drawn into it.

> The Patronus Charm is one of the most ancient of charms and appears in many accounts of early magic. Since there is of a long association with those fighting for lofty or noble causes (those able to produce corporeal Patronuses were often elected to high office within the Wizengamot and Ministry of Magic), the Patronus is mostly unknown among Dark wizards.
> 
> The form of a Patronus may change during the course of a witch or wizard’s life. Instances have been known of the form of the Patronus transforming due to bereavement, falling in love or profound shifts in a person’s character. Some witches and wizards may be unable to produce a Patronus at all until they have undergone some kind of psychic shock.

Draco was shocked. He sat there, staring at Harry as if he had just said the most outrageous thing ever. “I…” he stared at the basket, deep in though. Harry was a child! When how own Patronus changed, Harry had been thirteen years old… That made him absolutely damaged. How could he be in love with a boy?!

Harry cleared his throat. “Remus told me to give you this parchment. I haven’t read it, since he doesn’t want me to.” He handed Draco a parchment and smiled. “For what it’s worth, Dray, don’t overthink this.”

He did know him well. While Draco opened the letter, Harry got up and walked to the edge of the lake, getting rid of his shoes and he stepped into it, grinning at the water. It must have still been cold, but Harry apparently didn't care. Draco smiled weakly and turned back to the letter.

> Dear Draco
> 
> By now I believe you know what the change of your Patronus means. I’ve sent this book and your original letter to Harry deliberately so he would also have at least a suspicion of what was going on. You might be a little confused by now.
> 
> Let me explain what I think happened: While you figured out how to cast a Patronus in fifth year, you were unable to perform this spell in the last few years at Hogwarts since Voldemort invading your own home had probably taken away quite a lot of happy memories. In this time or at least by the time Harry spoke for you at the Wizengamot, you probably felt some emotions change towards him. It doesn’t have to be love, as you surely know hate is the other side of the same coin.
> 
> So when Harry asked you to teach him the Patronus, that’s the first time for a long time where you let your Patronus free. And it showed you that you in fact had a soul bonding with Harry. The book I had Harry give you talks more about the changing of a Patronus and what it entails for the person. 
> 
> Nymphadora went through the same thing, so should you have any questions, I’ll make sure to have her answer them for you. In short: The Patronus realizes love and protection and changes to the stronger Patronus. We both know Harry once chased away quite a lot of Dementors with his, so it was natural for yours to adapt.
> 
> I also wanted to tell you that you do not need to feel as if you wanted to have Harry as a child, we all know that isn’t true. The magical contract of your Magical Guardianship would have made this impossible and alerted the Ministry if you would have done something. So, there is absolutely no problem with that.
> 
> If you still feel weird about it… talking with Harry would help quite a bit, I assume. Anyway, if you have some concerns or questions, I will answer them all.
> 
> In the meantime, I wish you a good last few weeks as Hogwarts. Try to enjoy them – even with Transfigurations.
> 
> Kind Regards
> 
> Remus John Lupin

“Holy shit” Draco breathed and placed the letter onto the ground, looking at Harry who beamed broadly at the waves breaking on his legs. He just chuckled and bent down, splashing around in the lake.

All of that brought a huge grin on Draco’s face. There was no denying it: He was in love with Harry. And thinking back: Remus was correct. And even Pansy had told him she had known he was in love with Harry for two years.

Getting up, Draco joined Harry in the water. The former Gryffindor was splashing around and almost threw a bunch of water at him, when he stopped in the middle, walking closer to Draco. All of Harry’s clothes were by now wet and Draco chuckled over it.

“Hey” Harry smiled at him. “You’re doing better? You looked a little pale earlier.”

“Well, I had to figure out if I was considered a child molester, since I was apparently in love with a thirteen year old Harry Potter” Draco sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

Chuckling, Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t think so. Just because the Patronus changed doesn’t mean you did something to me.” He walked even closer and pressed a kiss on Draco’s cheek. “Additionally, Pansy would have likely killed you.”

This made Draco laugh and he nodded. “She would have castrated me as well afterwards. Just because I was being stupid.”

Harry winked at him and he splashed some water over Draco. While the cold water ran down over his clothes, he looked after Harry who had taken off, laughing loudly. Draco snorted and wandlessly made a wave break over his boyfriend who squealed in surprise before he went under.

Bursting out laughing, Draco walked over and jumped out of reach from Harry swimming closer, until he was caught in a hug by a dripping wet, but incredibly happy adult Harry Potter.


	80. Chapter 80

Draco sat on the couch, trying his hardest to focus on this damned Transfiguration book. He had even gotten one that according to Hermione was much easier… It didn’t help. Transfiguration was a dead topic to him. And coupled with the fact that Harry was currently having a meeting with Ginny… Draco was not relaxed in the slightest.

It was also nearly curfew and Draco really wanted Harry to be back as soon as possible, so that he could – potentially – snuggle with him in his room until he would fall asleep. What had the world come to?

Someone sat down next to him and Draco sighed, looking up. He really hoped it was Harry, though he did recognize his friend out of the corner of his eyes. “Hey Theo, anything I can do to help you?”

“No, but maybe I can help you? You’ve been on this page ever since I’ve started talking to Blaise. You know I like Transfiguration very much” he offered.

Draco sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I have tried everything, Theo. I’ve talked to Pansy, Hermione gave me a few ideas, I even got a book from Remus with some personal notes and I studied basically every book in the library. I’m actually thinking about just failing the test on purpose…”

Theodore frowned slightly. “You do realize that there’s a practical as well, right? The experts would be freaking out if you’d know nothing.”

“I know. But I’m honestly just about done with everything Hogwarts has to offer.”

“Just a few more months, Dray. How about this: I’m giving Harry tutoring lessons in Astronomy and Transfiguration. Why don’t you just tag along?”

Draco chuckled. “After everything he’s done to you, you’re helping him?”

Theodore smirked. “I made an offer he couldn’t refuse. He’s not allowed to scare me again – on purpose – and I’m giving him the best and hopefully easiest tutoring he’s ever had.”

“It was a terrible deal” Harry said, apparently just appearing out of thin air next to them. Theodore jerked and threw him a death glare which Harry returned with an apologetical shoulder shrug. He smirked and fell onto the couch next to Draco, putting his arm around him.

Smiling at his boyfriend, Draco leaned back into his arms. “I think I’ll accept. I’m also done with it today and now.”

“You’re just saying that because I’m here and you’d rather be in my arms than study for school” Harry explained and Draco shrugged his shoulders.

“Do _you_ want me to study for Transfiguration, rather than be in your arms?”

As an answer, Harry pulled him closer, putting both his arms around his waist and kissing his forehead. “Does this answer your question, love?” He grinned and Draco chuckled.

“Not entirely” he said quietly and leaned back, so Harry could place his head on top of his. He knew that Harry could read his body language better than anybody else. It was weird and stunning how he seemed to be able to know what he was thinking.

Harry hummed and pressed a gentle kiss on his temple. Theodore shook his head over their affection, though it didn’t seem as if he was against them. Maybe he just wasn’t entirely okay with public affection. Since, yes, most Slytherins had been taught not so show affection and love if there were a lot of people in the room. However, Harry didn’t seem to care. And Draco loved how Harry had no problem showing him how much he liked him. So yes, public showcase of affection was something Draco couldn’t get enough of. As long as it wasn’t inappropriate. And also as long as Severus wasn’t in the room.

There were definitely rumors about them going around Hogwarts, especially since Harry had started to wink at him whenever he left the room and people were talking. However, nobody knew for a hundred percent. At least nobody from other houses and the Slytherins kept it a secret. 

Harry yawned and untangled himself from Draco. “I’m tired, so I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Instead of Theodore or even Draco, the person arguing against that was Pansy who just as suddenly appeared as Harry and pushed him back onto the couch. “Oh come on, Harry! I’ve finally managed to break free from my study group and now I can’t even watch you two be affectionate!” She even pouted and made not only Harry but also Draco smirk.

Laughing, Harry turned to Draco, pressed a soft kiss on his cheek and turned to Pansy. “There. Now I’m going to bed see you tomorrow.”

“Next time I need to be here earlier!” Pansy complained and rolled her eyes.

Harry smirked and walked around the book cases, though motioned Draco to follow him as well before he turned around the corner.

Draco smirked and got up as well. When he found Pansy’s questioning glance, he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not going to lie to you, Pans. You know exactly where I’m going.”

His best friend chuckled. “Have fun, then. Maybe also sleep, if possible?”

Shaking his head, Draco walked to his boyfriend’s room, where he found him whistling some Muggle song and as soon as he heard his door open, he turned around. The smile that crossed his face was so big that Draco felt his breathing stop for a second.

“Nice of you to come by” Harry chuckled and winked.

Draco rolled his eyes and sat on Harry’s bed. “You told me to follow you. So I did.”

Harry walked over and carefully pushed him on his back, lying on top of him. “I would never tell you to do something, love.” With that, he kissed him softly. 

When they separated, panting, Draco couldn’t resist; he ruffled through Harry’s hair and smiled. Harry widened his eyes, rolled over in his bed and maneuvered them so that they were now lying next to each other. The former Gryffindor nuzzled into Draco’s neck, pulling him even closer.

“You smell like home” he heard the Golden Boy say, before he placed his hand on Draco’s chest and closed his eyes again.

With all of this, Draco’s heart started speeding up and he kissed Harry’s forehead. “I love you, Harry.” He widened his eyes, staring at his boyfriend. Had he just said…?

Harry watched him closely and after a few seconds that to Draco felt like all eternity, he smiled warmly. “Your love is the only thing that keeps me alive.” He stopped, frowning softly, before he widened his eyes.

Draco frowned as well. That sounded weirdly familiar. After a few seconds, Harry started laughing and his hid his face under the blanket.

“Harry, what’s going on?”

The former Gryffindor sat up and laughed, shaking his head. “I just quoted your movie! I watched it what… four times with you? _I fucking quoted that movie!_.”

Draco burst out laughing and rolled on his back, placing his hands on his face, laughing loudly. That was why it sounded familiar! It was what Nicholas told to Diana. Right after he had told her he would follow her to the end of the world.

“Well Harry, I _will_ follow you to the end of the world. Since we’re already quoting this movie, I will do so as well.”

Harry chuckled, laying back next to Draco and kissed him softly. “I love you too, Draco. I love you so much, I sometimes don’t know what to do with myself.” His eyes were so soft and glowing.

Draco smiled softly. “Next time that happens, you have my blessing to just kiss me.”

“I might take you up on that. Even in public.”

Softly brushing a strain of loose hair out of Harry’s face, Draco smiled up at his boyfriend. “I’m not a pureblood wizard anymore. I couldn’t care less about how to behave properly.”

Harry kissed his forehead. “Too bad that you guys taught me to live after the pureblood society rules.” He leaned down and touched his forehead with his own. “You’re mine now.”

“I have been yours forever, Harry.” He pulled Harry down into a kiss and put his arms around his neck. “And I will declare you as mine now as well. Nothing will destroy my love for you.”

“Damn” Harry looked at him, his expression soft, eyes lovingly and a smile playing on his lips. “You should have been the screen writer for that story, Dray. You’re dialogue is much better.”

“That just because I have the perfect person to say it to.”

Draco pulled Harry closer and put his arms around him. He felt Harry sigh happily and closed his eyes. This was what he had always wanted. A place… a person where he felt at home. Whatever happened to them, as long as Harry was around, Draco would feel at home.

They apparently fell asleep like that, since Draco felt as if time had stopped or simply ignored them. When heopened his eyes again, everything was quiet and dark. It seemed to be somewhat late – or early depending on how you looked at it.

He cast the tempus spell seeing that it wasn’t even four in the morning. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. In the faint green light of the projected time, Draco had a rather good view of Harry. He was breathing calmly and seemed completely relaxed. And somewhat content. Draco could only smile over this. How far they both had come! He was extremely proud of Harry. Draco knew that he shouldn’t be proud, but his instincts over Harry couldn’t be changed. This man had stolen his heart.

Groaning quietly, Draco got out of bed and went to the toilet, hoping he could fall asleep after that. He had only been gone five minutes, but when he entered the room again, Harry sat on his bed frowning. A candle was lit on the bedside table and Harry rubbed his forehead.

“Are you okay, Harry?” Draco asked as he closed the door behind him.

His boyfriend seemed slightly relieved he was here. His eyes darted over him and he smiled weakly. “I’m just confused, is all.”

Draco chuckled and climbed back into bed, pulling Harry into his arms. “How so, dear?”

“I fell asleep with you in my arms and I woke up in a room by myself. For a brief moment I thought everything that happened was just a dream. I mean… being turned into a baby and then having my childhood nemesis with whom I’ve been in love with forever taking care of me” Harry grinned. “That does sound like the things a dream could contain.”

“Well, luckily, it’s absolutely true” Draco whispered, kissing Harry’s temple.

Harry smiled and pulled Draco into a soft, loving kiss. “Please don’t go away anymore!”

Even though he didn’t really want to, Draco started to laugh and he shook his head. “Love, I went to the toilet, would you rather have me pee in bed?”

“Point taken” Harry chuckled and rolled his eyes. “You could have told me where you’re going.”

“Harry” Draco laughed and pressed another kiss on his boyfriend’s temple. “I’m not waking you up to tell you that I’m heading to the toilet. But I can promise you that I will never leave your side whatever life might throw at us. And we both know there are some things coming…”

Sighing, Harry nodded. They were quiet for a while, until the former Gryffindor spoke up again. “You know, Ginny thinks it’s best to have the public see their It-couple with other people, namely Luna and you, so they don’t even get the idea we could be together. Don’t do anything extravagant, like an interview.”

Draco drew circles on Harry skin and propped himself up on his elbow. “And what do you think, Harry?”

“I think I agree” Harry answered thoughtfully. “But I also want to know what you think about this. You know the whole Wizarding World will have their own thoughts about that. And they might not be positive.”

Smiling, Draco leaned over Harry, kissing him softly. His boyfriend didn’t want to tell the world about them without his consent. That was the best thing he ever heard. “Harry, as long as you’re by my side, I know I can do anything.”

Harry chuckled. “That’s funny, because in my opinion, all _I_ need is you by my side and I get the idea that I’m unstoppable.”

“You _are_ unstoppable.” Draco yelped, when Harry pulled him down and rolled in top of him. 

“Only with you by my side.”

Draco smiled softly and after another kiss, both fell back asleep. The next morning, they were woken up by Theodore charging into the room with a marching band, it sounded like that. Trumpets were in the air, drums almost exploding their ears and whatever instrument the Slytherin could have come up with was in the air.

Harry was standing in his bed and Draco had fallen out of it, sitting on the floor and staring wide eyed at his friend, who smirked at Draco’s boyfriend. The loud music stopped and he winked at the former Gryffindor.

“You are welcome, Harry. I’m getting you back for everything you did to me!” 

Draco rubbed his temples and yawned. “And did you have to do it while I was here?”

Theodore laughed, while Harry fell back into his bed, mumbling something about a heart attack and pulling the blanket over his head again. “That’s just an unforeseen side-effect of sleeping in your boyfriend’s bed. Now get up, you two. Breakfast is already happening.”

“Pansy sent you to wake us up, didn’t she?” Draco asked sitting up on the bed, shaking Harry’s shoulder. The former Gryffindor was already half asleep again. He pulled the blanket away and found Harry actually pretending to be asleep.

“Millicent wanted to wake you up, but I thought my method was much more effective” Theodore laughed and dodged one of Draco’s jinxes. “Get out of bed; we’re leaving for breakfast in ten minutes!”

Harry rolled his eyes when Theodore walked out of their room. “I think I’ve made a rather powerful enemy” he chuckled and pulled Draco back into bed.

Draco laughed and kissed him, before freeing himself with some difficulties. “You _need_ to eat, Harry. We’re going to breakfast. Also, I’m sure Pansy thinks the same. If we’re not out in ten minutes, she might charge in here with three marching bands.”

Even though he was unwilling to get out of bed, Harry finally relented (after a few more kisses and Draco promising to lock the door the next night so they could sleep in peace) and they walked into the Common Room exactly ten minutes later.

Pansy grinned at them and moved them all along. “Slept well?” She asked while they walked up to the Great Hall.

“I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking the last six months were but a dream. That was confusing.” Harry laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “Other than that, it was a rather nice night.”

Pansy winked at Draco, which Harry must have caught, since while Draco rolled his eyes, he placed his arm around Pansy’s shoulders. “Your mind is by far too dirty, Pans. How did you survive this long with pretending to be the perfect pureblood girl?”

“Nobody thinks of a perfect pureblood girl with a dirty mind. That’s how I survived this long. Smile, wave, _think_.”

Harry burst out laughing and shook his head, while Draco pulled him to his side. And with some light banter, they made it to the Great Hall, where breakfast was indeed already being served. Draco was incredibly happy to see Harry’s hungry eyes over the food. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen Harry look at food like that when he had first come to stay with them.

They ate in silence for a while, until Harry started talking again. “So, what do you want to do after Hogwarts?”

Since he was looking more into Draco’s direction, he shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

Pansy’s eyes immediately lit up and she grinned at Harry. “I’m going to reform the Ministry!”

“So I’ve heard!” Harry chuckled. “Hermione’s really looking forward to getting to work with you. I have never seen her talk about it that much… well, no. That’s a lie. But you know what I’m talking about.” 

Draco sighed. “Everyone knows what they want to do after Hogwarts.”

Harry grinned and shook his head. “Really? I don’t.”

Blaise looked up as if he was incredibly confused by this answer. “You don’t? Didn’t the Aurors give you basically a free-pass to join them?”

“They did. But I do not feel like I could go out and hunt any more dark wizards. One was by far enough.”

Pansy nodded her approval. “Also, you’ve been hunting him ever since you came to Hogwarts, so I completely agree.” She grabbed more bacon and got the last piece before Theodore did. He glared at her, even though the plate refilled itself almost immediately.

“Thank you, mom” Harry winked at her and grabbed another toast.

Chuckling, Pansy rolled her eyes. “I don’t think I’m ever getting rid of this name, am I?”

“Nope.” Harry laughed. “Do you ever intent on becoming a mother?”

“Absolutely. You were my trial child and I think you turned out pretty good.” Pansy winked back.

Draco narrowed his eyes and pretended to be hurt. He huffed angrily and put his arm around Harry’s shoulders, glaring at her. Harry seemed to think it was hilarious, since he snorted. Draco raised his eyebrows at Pansy. “Hey, don’t flirt with my man!”

Harry laughed and shoved him slightly. Draco was sure if they had been in the comfort of their own Common Room, he would have kissed him. This was okay as well. “You will be an amazing mother, Pans! And I will do anything in my power to be an uncle that’s trying to undo all your parenting.” Harry bit a big piece of his toast with twinkling eyes.

“I don’t think I’ll ever visit you or Draco once I have children. Dray, Christmases will be held without your boyfriend here!” Pansy pointed at Harry smirking. He laughed and almost choked on his food, when he tried to swallow the piece of toast in his mouth.

“I highly doubt that.” Draco simply answered and chuckled.

Theodore laughed. “You trained him well!” he said to Harry who rolled his eyes.

“I don’t train my friends and I definitely do not train my love; I mean, come on!”

Behind Pansy, a Gryffindor had snuck up and after he placed a kiss on Pansy’s cheek, with her almost jumping into the air and punching however just did that, he looked at Harry. He had definitely heard what Harry had said.

“Did you just say you loved Draco?” Neville asked, sitting down next to Pansy.

“I did” Harry smirked. “In all honesty though, I’ve been in love with him for I think three years. How come you’ve never realized that?”

Neville snorted. “I was looking for my own soulmate.” He winked at Pansy who only rolled her eyes, while Theodore whistled impressed. Draco chuckled and Harry rolled his eyes, even though he was grinning. Pretty much everyone here doubted that he was looking for Pansy before the war. The differences between a Slytherin and a Gryffindor had been too huge. However, it was still sweet of him to imply that Pansy was his soulmate.


	81. Chapter 81

“Draco?” Harry asked and Draco turned around in his new boyfriend’s arms. He yawned and nestled back under the covers once he was facing his Slytherin. Another hard day had passed and they had gone to bed almost immediately. Harry had been asleep as soon as his head had met the pillow. That had given Draco almost all night to look at Harry, happily sleeping in his arm. This former Gryffindor had definitely turned his whole world upside down. And he was not going to complain about that.

Too tired to say something right now since it was probably three in the morning, he simply hummed his response and rubbed his eyes quickly as to not fall asleep again.

Harry chuckled and lovingly stroked a few loose strains of hair out of Draco’s face. Draco closed his eyes and felt the tiredness overcoming him again, coupled with the loving caress of his boyfriend, he was about to go back through the door to the sleeping world.

However, Harry wanted something, otherwise he hadn’t asked. And so, Draco forced his eyes open again and grabbed Harry’s hand, kissing the back of his hand. “Yes, Harry, how can I be of assistance?”

Harry grinned, putting his arms around Draco and pulling him closer. “No assistance, dear. Just a… a wish.”

“Anything… Literally anything for you, Harry” Draco answered and received a soft kiss for this. Smiling into the kiss, he traced Harry’s cheekbones, down to his chin and over his neck.

“I love you, Dray.”

Draco pushed a rather stubborn strain of hair out of Harry’s face and looked back into his eyes. They were so soft, so full of love and hope and just everything Draco had ever wanted to see in his boyfriend’s eyes. Leaning in once more, Draco kissed him softly, breaking it too soon.

Harry pouted and Draco laughed at the sight of it. “Poor Harry can’t get enough kisses” Draco teased to which his boyfriend simply rolled his eyes.

“Could you maybe… Could you call me bear?” Harry asked rather sheepishly and he seemed to be unsure of whether or not he had overstepped some nonexistent line. “It just… It makes me feel safe and home and… loved.”

Draco was not going to let him feel this insecure. Not after he had said that Draco calling him bear meant he felt _home_! “Of course, bear!” he smiled as Harry beamed at him and leaned in for one more kiss. Which then turned into two and three and four.

“I love you too, bear.”

*

A few hours later, Harry sat half lying on the couch, feet on top of the small table, a book about a Muggle romance in his hands and he kept reading as if his life depended on that. Draco was lying on his side, leaning against his chest, eyes closed, almost sleeping with one hand on Harry’s stomach, feeling the soft effects of his constant calming breathing.

“Draco…” Pansy’s voice stopped and Draco hear her squeal in his half asleep mind. “Merlin, this is just too adorable! I need a picture of that!”

He didn’t realize what it meant as he was literally almost half asleep, until a flashing light and a _click_ sound made him opened his eyes and he found Pansy standing there with a rather old looking camera.

“Pansy! What did you just do?” he asked, shaking his head. Harry rubbed his shoulder with his one free hand and leaned down to kiss the top of his head. Draco smiled, looking up at his boyfriend, when another flashing light and the sound of picture taken distracted them both.

Before Draco could say anything, Harry sighed, placing the book on the table. “Pansy, you should stop taking pictures of people who haven’t given their consent.”

“It’s not for me, darling! I’m thinking that would make the perfect wedding announcement picture” Pansy said nonchalantly.

Draco widened his eyes. Firstly, he had never talked with Harry about getting married – even if he actually wanted to and the Wizarding marriage laws had absolutely nothing against that, and secondly… Would Harry walk away from them now? How could Pansy say something like that and not…

Two hands pulling him right into Harry’s embrace threw all his over thinking out of the way and he snuggled into his boyfriend’s side, hiding his face in the crook of his neck. He felt Harry chuckle while his embrace tightened and Draco grabbed Harry’s jumper, holding it tight, just in case this was a dream.

He felt a kiss on his temple and turned to look at Harry again. “I love…” _click_

“Pansy Parkinson!” Harry raised his eyebrows at the witch who was still holding onto the camera. “If you don’t put this thing away and let me and Draco have a moment, I will hex you!”

“Oh darling, you’ve tried to hex me a lot of times. Never really got me, though” Pansy answered, smirking and camera in place.

Draco knew it was hopeless to try and get her to do something like that. However, Harry seemed to have a trump card, as he grinned broadly and shrugged his shoulders. “Alright, Pans: If you don’t stop, I’ll tell Neville that you’re already planning your wedding.”

Pansy widened her eyes and she quickly vanished the camera. “For the record, I’m only collecting ideas. If I were planning the wedding now, it would be far too early.” She sat down on the couch with an expression that Draco couldn’t really pinpoint. For some reason, Pansy and Harry had actually gotten along very well. And it seemed as if Harry knew a little bit more than him... How was that even possible?!

Harry smirked. “Yes, well, thank you for already thinking about wedding announcement pictures for us. We’ve been dating for a less amount of time than you two have!”

“I’m sorry, Harry, but… the two of you are so cute and I have never seen Draco so… loose, for a lack of a better word.”

“I think the word you’re looking for would be ‘in love’” Draco offered himself and grinned, while Harry pressed a gentle kiss on his temple.

Pansy smiled and nodded. She finally seemed to remember why she came looking for them. “Draco, Severus wants to see you in his office and Madam Pomfrey wants to discuss something with you as well.”

Draco groaned and turned back to his boyfriend, not wanting to leave his side. “Do I have to follow too?” he heard Harry ask.

“Not right now. Maybe Madam Pomfrey first wants to talk to Draco about what happened throughout… your life, basically. Severus clearly wants to have a short summary. He then definitely wants to talk to you. For now, you’re free though.”

“I don’t want to go” Draco said right into Harry’s chest.

He felt Harry chuckle and another tight embrace. “We can continue to snuggle tonight, Dray. I can see McGonagall wanting to talk to me as well, so we do have to be in separate rooms for a while.”

“But this is so perfect!” Draco complained, looking up at Harry with a dark expression. At least he hoped it was a dark expression.

It really didn’t matter, as Harry leaned in and kissed him softly. This time without a camera sound. When he wanted to separate though, Draco did not let that happen and continued kissing his boyfriend, until he was lying in the couch completely, Draco right on top of him. Once Draco let go to get some much needed air, he opened his eyes to find a complete dazed and love-struck expression on his boyfriend’s face.

Pansy squealed in the background and Draco heard another camera sound. Sighing, he turned to look at his best friend who just then vanished her camera again, trying to look as innocently as possible. Draco raised his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes.

“Come on, Draco. This is by far the picture you’ve always wanted.” She gestured at Harry with half closed eyes, one leg hanging from the couch, the other around Draco’s waist and both arms around him. Draco smiled down at Harry who seemed to slowly come back to reality.

“You’re right” he said softly and glanced at Pansy, before kissing his boyfriend again. This time much softer, to give him some much needed time to figure out what reality was.

Harry tightened his hug around Draco, once he wanted to get up. “I’m not letting you go now!”

“You were the one saying we could snuggle tonight again, bear” Draco pointed out, grinningly.

“Yes, but that was before you kissed me that way! I’m not letting you leave now! You’re here in my arms and you will stay here until eternity is over!”

Draco laughed and shook his head. “There are some logical mistakes in that sentence, love. I’ll tell you what: I’m going to see Severus, Madam Pomfrey and even McGonagall. Once I did all of that, I’ll come back into your arms. How does that sound?”

Harry shook his head and pouted. “You’re already in my arms! I am not letting you go!”

Everyone jerked up, when another voice answered Harry’s statement. “Sadly, this is not in your hands anymore, Mr. Potter.” Severus stood there, right next to the book case, looking down on them. Harry and Draco quickly sat up properly and Pansy giggled, when Draco’s father couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “Come on, Draco. We’re just having a quick meeting with everyone, and then you’ll be free to return to Harry’s arms. And I will make sure to tell Minerva that the meeting with Harry will happen tomorrow, so you two have all the time you want together.”

“Thank you Professor Snape” Harry answered grinning, clearly mocking politeness. “Please come back as soon as you can, Mr. Snape!”

Draco shook his head, following his father. When he turned to look back at his boyfriend, this man had the audacity to wink at him, with a lopsided grin on his face. That man was going to be the death of him. And he did have absolutely nothing against that.


	82. Chapter 82

It took nearly another month until everything seemed normal. Harry had seemingly without problems changed mottos and was now an actual Snake. He helped younger students with their DADA homework, held secret training sessions in their party room, which after two sessions were attended by basically their whole house. And yes, Draco was aware that Harry would spend a little more time around him, correcting him softly. Shooting him short glances of love.

McGonagall was giving him help in Transfigurations and the Savior even got her to accept Draco in this tutoring project. Their bi-weekly study session in the library had taken over to almost four times a week and Harry was incredibly motivated to understand everything. Hermione and Theodore seemed very happy with such an eager student and helped him even more. Well, Draco thought that he didn’t need to try so hard, since it seemed as if he understood everything rather quickly. Even in potions, he managed to react in seconds and Severus seemed rather happy with how he had turned out.

These two still had the same weird relationship, even stronger than before, and Draco really wanted to find out what was going on. He had already tried to talk to Severus about it, but he wasn’t going to say anything. Maybe Harry would?

As luck would have it, when Draco returned from the library, feeling slightly victorious for having understood a small paragraph in a Transfiguration book, he almost walked into Harry leaving Severus’ office. Draco stopped and smiled at his boyfriend.

“Oh, hey Draco! Sorry, I have to go, see you around” he waved, when Draco held him back and raised his eyebrows.

“Where are you going and why don’t I get even one kiss?”

Harry laughed, pressing a gentle kiss on his lips. “Happy now, love?”

Draco shook his head. “No. But I can wait for a little more now. Where are you going?” he repeated and chuckled when Harry blushed slightly. He really had turned into some kind of a pureblood wizard. Only they would feel ashamed for not having answered all the questioned asked in one turn.

“I’m going to look for Hermione and Ron. They were a group of two, so I want to see whether my influence was bad or not. As in: are they doing better together or not…”

Before he could finish speaking, Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed Harry, making him follow him to the Common Room. “You’re not going to do that, Harry. Simply because I don’t like this reasoning. If you change it, I might let you go looking for them.”

Apparently, Harry had nothing against that, since he laughed and willingly let him be torn away from where he had been. He placed his arms around Draco and kissed his temple, before letting go, since walking was easier the other way. “I will follow your lead, oh almighty Magical Guardian!”

“I’m not your Magical Guardian anymore. I’m your boyfriend!” Draco glared at Harry who smirked.

As they entered the Common Room, it was nearly empty. Harry yawned and walked to their secret spot, while Draco followed. Maybe now was a good question to ask what he was always doing with Severus?

Without trying to overthink it, Draco decided to ask: “Harry, I’ve been trying to figure this out for the better part of eighth year now and I still have no idea: Why is Severus behaving so differently when it comes to you? He’s not torturing you and it looks as if he cares quite a bit about you…”

Nodding, Harry pulled Draco down onto the couch and put his arms around him, so Draco was now leaning against Harry’s chest. “He does care about me, Draco. During the battle, I saw him being attacked and he gave me his memories, thinking he wouldn’t make it. I wasn’t going to let him die, so I held his wound closed and Hermione grabbed everything she had to fix it – the Muggle way. Ron was keeping the vial steady, just in case. And we succeeded in saving him.” Harry smiled weakly. He pressed another gentle kiss on Draco’s forehead, before he continued. “That was shortly before Voldemort gave us a little break. I went up to Dumbledore’s office, looking into Severus’ memories, while Hermione cared for him and Ron went to look for his own family. In the end, I only figured out that I had to die with Severus’ memories. And he actually was against that the whole time.”

“Sounds scary.” Draco frowned and felt the arms around him tighten as if to show that he was safe now.

“It was. Once the battle was over, Madam Pomfrey could actually help Severus so he looked as if nothing ever happened. He was in charge of rebuilding Hogwarts after the war and when I volunteered to help out, we got to talk a little more and actually figured out that we’re not that different. And so I continued these visits when Hogwarts started again. I see how that could have been confusing to you.” Harry chuckled and it made Draco’s head slightly jump up and down from the vibrations.

He smirked and looked up at Harry. His boyfriend looked at him with so soft eyes that Draco was almost about to tear up. This was it. This moment was everything he had ever wanted. He had a family that cared about him – Severus. His friends were amazing and he had the man who pretty much turned out to be the love of his life by his side.

Before he could say something, Harry looked up and whispered a spell, which made Pansy shout something from the other end of the room. The camera came floating closer and sat on the table in front of Draco and Harry.

“She will continue to do this until we’re out of here, isn’t she?” Harry asked, though his annoyed voice did not match his amused expression.

Draco laughed and nodded. “If not for the rest of her life.” He sat up properly and grinned at Harry who rolled his eyes.

By that time, Pansy had reached them and she placed her hands on her hips. “Harry James Potter, you can’t just take other people’s possessions!”

“Pansy Pandora Parkinson” Harry started, mocking her with the same tone she had used for him, when both Draco and Pansy widened her eyes in surprise. Before he could even continue mocking Pansy’s phrasing, she hushed them.

“How do you know my full name?!” She shook her head, clearly confused and surprised. “I’ve only told Draco, my middle name is absolutely stupid and I hate my parents for having given me two names starting with a P when my last name also starts with a P!”

Harry chuckled. “I have my ways.” He winked at her. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. As long as you’ll stop secretly taking pictures of Draco and me.”

Draco smirked when he looked at Harry. “And I think that just proves that you’re a Snake, Harry.”

“And quite a powerful wizard! I have a spell on this camera that allows only me to do spells with it. Yet, you broke through that!” Pansy shook her head as she sat down on the sofa, defeated.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, putting his arms around Draco again. “Since we’re already sharing secrets…” he smirked. “There’s a rumor floating around Hogwarts. That something terrible happened to some terrible people.”

Since Harry was so secretive, Draco frowned at him. “Death Eaters?” he offered and even Pansy frowned, putting her legs onto the couch as well.

Shaking his head, Harry had a lopsided sneer. “What happened to the Dursley’s? There’s a rumor going around Hogwarts that my relatives have been punished by Dark Magic. Since I grew up here and I remember having to go to the Hospital Wing quite a lot for medical examinations… I am fairly certain you had something to do with it. I won’t tell. But what happened?”

Draco shared a look with Pansy, before he pulled both legs up on the couch and crossed them – fairly unlike a pureblood should do, but exactly what Pansy was doing as well. Not that he cared. “Well, if the Aurors ask, we were all here at Hogwarts.”

“But since you’re asking…” Pansy chuckled darkly. “Have you ever heard of the Exemplum Spell?” When Harry shook his head, she continued: “It’s a spell with a copying mechanism. It’s a rather dark spell, used as a punishment for even darker individuals. Mostly murderers who tortured their victims.”

Sighing, Draco decided to interrupt his best friend, since she seemed to start explaining the whole history if the spell, which Harry really didn’t need to know to understand what happened. “With the spell, you take a person’s life as an example and perform this spell on any number of people you want. The spell gives the chosen victims everything that happened to the example. Sometimes you can take things away, but normally you just give them everything.”

Harry was quiet, clearly thinking about what they had just said. “So” he finally started, still trying to make heads and tails of this story, “you basically decided to torture my relatives? Who’s the example?”

When neither Pansy nor Draco said anything, Harry shortly widened his eyes. “Oh. That’s a fair choice, I guess. Even though quite a lot of things happened to me because of Voldemort, not - _them_.”

“Anyone could have seen that you were being treated worse than a House Elf, Harry” Pansy said and rolled her eyes. “I mean, come on! Even if my uncle is an idiot, he at least gives them medical supplies so should they hurt themselves they can fix it.”

Harry chuckled and nodded. “I know. So, are they dead? I couldn’t really figure it out. The rumors range from them dying immediately over them running away to being in St. Mungo’s?”

“Since they have been exposed to Dark Magic, the Ministry took them to St. Mungo’s and put them in some kind of weird ward. It’s one for Muggles who have been showed some harmful Magic” Draco explained.

He was slightly afraid that Harry would lose his head and just… freak out, even though he had known the former Gryffindor quite well. It was still a little scary.

Pansy shrugged her shoulders and completed their telling: “The old man’s lost his mind completely. He just shut down after we left and is now basically a prisoner of his mind, where there’s probably still some pain hiding. The old woman… she’s still there, but from what I’ve heard she begs the guards in St. Mungo’s to free her from her torture. Too bad they don’t kill people.”

Harry snorted. “You guys have sick minds” he chuckled and shook his head. “I should have asked you for help a few years ago! I can’t believe they’re gone!”

“You’re not mad?” Draco asked. He looked curiously at Harry, who shook his head and put his arm around his shoulders.

“How could I be mad, Dray? You guys were such better parents than they were by far. And they’re double the age! I mean, I’m slightly disappointed that I couldn’t have been the one to cast the spell, but” he shrugged his shoulders, implicating that everything was fine.

Pansy chuckled. “You are the best person I know, Harry. Except for maybe Neville.”

Harry laughed loudly. “Oh, yes, Neville is by far a better person than I am, but I feel honored, Pans. And hey, who knows. Maybe someday I’ll find my cousin and can repeat the spell myself.”

“I’d be careful with that” another voice sounded and Theodore just sat down next to Draco. He pulled out the Prophet and placed it on the table. “As of yesterday, the spell is now blacklisted.”

“Whatever.” Harry smirked. “I’ll just go and ask Severus for a vial of poison that kills people slowly and painfully. Nothing wrong with that, is there?”

Theodore shook his head, opening his Astronomy book, when Pansy sighed. “I think we raised you wrong.”

Laughing, Harry grabbed a book himself, before pressing a kiss on Draco’s lips. Draco leaned back and smiled. This was beautiful. Who knew that he would ever actually like his life?! At least not while he had been a Malfoy. Being a Snape actually was so much better!

And while Harry was extremely worried about catching up with everything, he managed just fine. And with all the cuddling, late night talks, games in their secret garden and just happy times, their final day would come someday soon.


	83. Chapter 83

Facing the white walls, Draco tried to inhale as much air as he could. His heart was pounding hard and he swallowed even harder, trying to hold back his tears. Staring down at his arm, he saw the black magical ink of the newly established Dark Mark.

What had he done?! He was not ready to fight in this war! It was the wrong side anyway! Harry had the real good side. Why was he here?

Looking up, he found Harry standing in his room, eyebrows raised and his arms crossed over his chest. He looked so disappointed. “I thought you were better than this, Draco. Guess you leave me no other option. I’ll leave you.”

“No! Please don’t! I didn’t even want this!” Draco called out and tried to get up from his bed, but he was held back. He turned around and found the girl his mother had wanted to marry him to in his bed.

She smiled and revealed sharp teeth. “Don’t leave me Draco. Ever! We’re going to have a few thousand babies together!”

Draco widened his eyes, punched her in the face and tried to get away from her. “No! I love Harry, I don’t want to…”

When he turned around, Harry shook his head. “I don’t love you, Malfoy.” He looked cold and started laughing, morphing into the Dark Lord, laughing at his helpless state. A wand was pushed against his face and he heard the word “Crucio!” whispered. Gasping for air, Draco tried to get out of that area, struggling against the restraints of the spell.

“Draco!”

A voice made him open his eyes and he gasped for air. Turning his head, he found Harry sitting on his bed, leaning over him and looking very concerned. “Draco, love, nobody’s going to hurt you” he said calmly, running his fingers through his hair to bring him down from this terrible nightmare.

Draco felt hot tears trailing down his face and he turned to his side, grabbing on tight to Harry and starting to cry. Harry helped him into a sitting position and after climbing over him and leaning against the wall; he pulled him on his laps.

“It’s okay, Dray. Everything’s going to be fine. I’m here now. I’ll take care of you, love! You’re safe and loved and I will protect you from everything” he whispered into Draco’s ear while he kept sobbing into Harry’s shoulder.

Harry kept holding him tightly and whispered softly into his ears which made him calm down after a few minutes and he nuzzled into the crook of Harry’s neck, realizing that he had just had a very terrible nightmare. It seemed as if everything that had happened in the last few months had finally broken down on him.

However, in Harry’s embrace he finally felt safe and secure and loved. Harry calmly reminding him that there was nothing he had to be afraid of and that everything was going to be okay.

“How did you know I had a nightmare?” Draco finally asked and pulled Harry down onto his bed again, where he snuggled into his loving embrace.

Harry pulled him even closer, kissed the top of his head and softly brushed a strain of hair out of his face. “Pansy heard you screaming. She woke me up and told me I might be the only person to get you to calm down.”

Nodding softly, Draco pressed himself against Harry. “I’m usually not calming down that fast.”

Draco felt another kiss on the top of his head and shivered slightly, turning his head to look at his boyfriend. “Thank you for being here.”

“Whenever you need me, Dray. I will always be there for you.”

Smiling softly, Draco pulled himself up and gave his boyfriend an actual kiss. “I love you so much, Harry.”

“I love you too, Draco.”

Snuggling into his boyfriend’s arms, Draco closed his eyes again, clearly knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep again right now. But being close to Harry right now was all he needed. And like that they stayed for a little while.

In the distance, Draco could hear a violin and flute duet. He yawned and smiled up at Harry, who for some reason was also still awake. “I don’t think I can go back to sleep for the next few hours. Do you want to go and see what Pans and Ze are up to?”

Harry frowned. “Isn’t Pansy supposed to be with Neville?”

Draco frowned, before he laughed. He fell on his back and shook his head. “Not with making out, Harry. Don’t you hear it? They’re making music!”

He could tell that Harry was listening for something, when he raised one eyebrow and looked around the room. Apparently, he had heard them, as he widened his eyes and grinned. “Sure, let’s go.”

In the Common Room, Blaise and Pansy had once again built up their music compartment and even though they had tried to cast a strong silencing charm, they hadn’t managed to do so. As soon as Harry and Draco had passed through it, Draco felt his boyfriend strengthening the charm and it warmed his heart.

“Good morning, you two” Blaise greeted them and smiled. “Are you okay?”

Draco felt his friend’s worried eyes on him. He nodded and felt Harry placing his arms around him. “It’s all good now” Harry said, kissing Draco’s temple, which made him smile stupidly.

Pansy chuckled. “Yes, you look much better and also more like our normal Draco Snape!”

“Why are you two awake, anyway?” Harry asked and sat down on an arm chair, looking interested.

“Oh, we all have sleepless nights” Blaise sighed. “Pansy and I have had a shitty day and we couldn’t get any peace, so we decided to make a little music.”

Harry frowned slightly, but seemingly decided not to ask again. He could have asked anyway, since Pansy smiled at him and nodded. “What your uncle did to you, my uncle did to me as well, you know. I sometimes still have a flashback to what happened with him. Today was a particularly bad day and I think I might have pissed off Neville.”

Smiling at Pansy, Harry shook his head. “I doubt that. Neville’s one of the most sensitive guys I know. He probably knew that something was amiss and I’m sure he won’t hold that against you. One day, you might have to tell him what happened, though. Just so he understands.”

“Is it easier?” Pansy asked, before she sighed and rephrased what she meant. “Does it ever get… normal?”

“Probably” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “It’s the first time where I feel free. Last summer, I’ve talked to Severus about it a lot. And… talking helps. I don’t know if it ever gets easier or normal.”

Pansy nodded and bit her lower lip, as if there was something else she really wanted to say, but didn’t know how to. “Do you think you could ever… sleep with someone again?”

Harry smiled weakly. “Maybe.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It might take some time. Why are you asking, Pans?”

“I think Neville wants me to spend the night in his room. But I just… I can’t.” She sighed and sat down on a chair, shaking her head.

Walking over, Harry placed a hand on her shoulder and got down on his knees. “He’ll understand. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday it’ll all make sense. Until then, I doubt he’ll walk away from you, because you don’t want to spend the night with him. He’s far too much in love with you.”

“Do you really think so?” She looked so scared, almost broken, as if the thought of Neville walking away from her had been slowly destroying her sanity.

“I’m sure.” Harry nodded. She copied his actions and seemed to come to the same conclusion. When he turned to look at Draco, he walked closer as well. Draco smiled softly at Harry, which made him return the smile. “I for one can say that I’m willing to try with the man I love” he added and Draco felt so many emotions rising that he had no ideas how to control them. He was tearing up and cleared his throat, walking over faster to Harry and hugging him.

Harry hugged him back tightly and pulled him onto his laps falling to the floor now. “I love you!” Draco whispered between his tears.

It was quiet for a while, until Draco had gotten back to normal and had control over everything again. He turned to look at his friends and found Pansy once again with almost hearts in her eyes and Blaise with a smile on his lips.

“You guys are annoying” he stated and the spell was broken by a lot of laughter.

Pansy smiled at the two of them. “Harry, do you think you could be there when I tell him? Maybe Draco as well? We could have a double date and I tell him then…”

“Pans, you know you don’t need to rush this, right?” Harry asked and smiled.

“I know.” Pansy returned his smiled, but shrugged her shoulders. “I want him to know either way. It’s important that he knows it has nothing to do with him.”

Draco nodded and Harry agreed as well.

“Mate, if I ever find a girl, can I get all of you and Neville as dinner guests when I tell my story?” Blaise asked and sighed, while still trying to be at least somewhat funny.

“Absolutely” Harry chuckled and turned to Draco. “Are we joining Ze and Pans in their music?”

“Definitely!” Draco agreed. “That is if you’re still making music?”

Pansy and Blaise nodded and Draco and Harry moved to the piano playing for the better part of morning, until they all headed to bed around five in the morning. Well, Harry decided to snuggle with Draco for the remaining morning which Draco had absolutely nothing against.

*

After breakfast, they all spent a few hours by the lake, talking, planning eating, studying. Basically doing everything together while doing nothing a hundred percent. They were just enjoying the rather warm weather and the feast, benefitting from their busy study season not yet being here entirely.

Their peace was suddenly somewhat ruined by Millicent calling out: “Gryffindors approaching!”

Looking up, Draco found a trio of Gryffindors coming closer. Neville was leading the pack, as if he had replaced Harry in being the Golden Trio’s leader, and grinned when he found Pansy.

“Oh no, the Gryffindors!” he said and sat down next to Pansy. “I mean, we could just head back again, if you want?”

“Absolutely not!” Pansy laughed and pressed a kiss on his cheek. “I’m happy you’re here.”

He smiled and placed his arm around her, pulling her a little closer. If there had ever been a distance between them, it had clearly disappeared, as they seemed closer than ever.

The other two Gryffindors were Hermione and Weasley. Both remained standing, Hermione glancing over to her boyfriend as if she was expecting him to do something, Neville doing the same. Draco frowned, wondering what was going on, when the man cleared his throat.

“Listen, Harry, I need to apologize. I’ve been nothing but a big old dimwit.” He sighed and raised his eyes to look at Harry. “For the longest time I thought Draco was hurting you, even if I had no proof. And I thought I would do so much better in helping you grow up – I realize I was wrong. I am sorry for all the trouble I have caused you, Harry. I never meant to be so… such a bad friend.”

Harry jumped up and walked over, hugging Ron. “You’re like my brother, Ron! I know it was hard and for what it’s worth, I forgive you, even though I don’t think you did anything wrong.”

Ron huffed and smiled weakly. “Nice of you to say, but I know I did some bad things.” He looked over to Draco and quickly pressed his lips together, before he sighed. “Which brings me to my next apology. I am sorry, Draco. Not only did you do a much better job, when Harry came asking for help, I…” he shrugged his shoulders, clearly talking about the time where the eleven year old Harry had gone to wake him up due to a nightmare. “I didn’t think about what a child would need. And I’m sorry for not helping you or Harry. I want to apologize to everyone here, for thinking that I was better than you and not believing you had Harry’s best interest at heart.”

Draco nodded and smiled. Harry turned to look at him and chuckled. Before he could say something however, Millicent was the one speak up first.

“Holy shit, Weasley! That was one hell of an apology! I don’t think anyone could apologize better than that! Of course we forgive you!” she laughed.

Harry snorted and shook his head, grinning at them, while Draco got up. He walked towards the redhead and held out his hand. “Don’t worry, Ron. I completely understand. Thank you for apologizing.” They shook hands. “However, I do believe I have to apologize as well. I don’t think it was right to keep both of you away from baby Harry and I don’t know exactly why I believed it was better to not have him interact with you. So I am sorry about that.”

Ron smirked. “It’s fine. Thanks for apologizing though.”

Hermione smacked him over the head with a parchment, to which Harry laughed and Theodore invited all three Gryffindors to join them in their afternoon hangout of studying, eating and talking.

Draco returned to his place next to Harry and as soon as he sat down, he felt Harry pulling him closer. “I like your new character trait, Draco. You’re much more forgiving than before.”

“Oh no!” Draco smirked. “My cold Slytherin heart is melting!”

He enjoyed Harry laughing and pressed a soft kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek. That was when Harry noticed someone in the distance and pointed that person out to Draco.

“Dray look! It’s Remus! Let’s go say hi!” Harry jumped up and when Draco frowned, he felt himself being pulled up as well.

“What? I…” Draco had no way of talking more, trying to get out of this, when he was being dragged off by a clearly excited Harry. Half way to their former professor, Draco started laughing over this ridiculous level of excitement, but he didn’t say anything.

This reminded him a lot of small Harry who would get excited over the smallest things. An owl sitting by the window? It was his new favorite creature! Pansy walking into the room? New favorite playing mate.

Draco caught Harry glancing at him, as if he knew exactly what he was talking about, but decided not to say so. He did smile softly at Draco and that was all it took for him to feel butterflies in his stomach again.

Remus probably saw them coming, as he stopped and turned towards them. “Harry! Draco! My two favorite students!” he greeted them and made both men chuckle.

“Well, since I am not your student anymore, I don’t think you thought this statement through” Draco argued, grinning.

“I haven’t.” Remus admitted and shrugged his shoulders. “My two favorite Hogwarts students then.”

Draco laughed. “I can’t argue with that.”

Harry snorted and shook his head. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, since your former DADA professor quit, Professor McGonagall asked me to come back for the end of the year to make sure everyone has their N.E.W.T and O.W.L levels. After the summer I will start my permanent teaching position.” Remus grinned.

“That is amazing!” Draco called out and nodded.

Harry quickly agreed: “I’m glad we have you as a teacher, Remus!”

“I’m also happy to be back.” Remus looked over the lake that was today exceptionally beautiful. He did quickly turn back to Harry and Draco, smirking at the latter. “How is your studying going? Transfiguration?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Thank you, I’m getting help from all kinds of people. Theo, Harry, even McGonagall, even though she’s technically helping Harry.”

“Eh, we both can use a little bit of her brilliance” Harry grinned.

Remus laughed and nodded. “Well said, Harry. But don’t have to pretend, she’s not here.” He winked at him and looked past the two Slytherins. “Well, I have to ask” Remus pointed at the group of Slytherins and Gryffindors, “how come Slytherin and Gryffindor are the first to start uniting the different houses?!”

Draco turned to look and found Hermione and Pansy along with Theodore in what seemed to be heated discussion, Neville trying to shush his girlfriend playfully and Ron leaning over a book with Blaise, where they seemed to be talking about a topic rather sternly. Millicent for now hadn’t decided which group she wanted to be part of.

Turning back to Remus, Draco chuckled. “That’s all Harry’s doing.”

“Definitely not” Harry laughed. “I’ve been a baby for the better part of my last year at Hogwarts.”

Remus laughed. “Well, whoever did that, _Draco_ …” he turned to Draco and emphasized his name, which made him roll his eyes.

“I said, _Harry_!” Draco crossed his arms while Harry laughed loudly.

None of that seemed to bother Remus, as he just continued. “… surely has a lot of strength.”

“Unbelievable” Draco muttered and Harry put his arm around his shoulders, still laughing.

“It was all you, love.”

Remus chuckled, quite obviously at how much… affection Harry seemed to portray in this small sentence. Draco simply rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, I will see you next week, Harry. And Draco, take care of yourself. I’ve heard you have your mind healing session tomorrow. Be open for it, okay?” Remus asked and smiled.

Draco nodded. “Thank you again for what you’ve done for me. I don’t think I could have gotten through this last year if it hadn’t been for your support.”

Remus shook his head, smiling. “You would have gotten through this year just fine, Draco. But I’m glad I could be one of the people to help you. Let’s get together once your study and exam weeks are over.”


	84. Chapter 84

Draco walked into the Common Room the next day to find Harry sitting there, quietly reading a book and tapping his feet to some music – in his head. As if Harry had heard him, he looked up and smiled broadly.

“Good morning, Dray. How did you sleep?”

When Harry placed the book on the table next to him, Draco walked closer and sat on his boyfriend’s lap. Harry placed his arms around him and pulled him into a hug, where Draco placed his head in the crook of his neck.

“Better than yesterday”, he finally said and stroked Harry’s cheek.

Chuckling, Harry placed a kiss on his forehead and hummed. “That’s good, love. You know you can always come to me if you had a nightmare, right?”

That role reversal was astounding. Draco nodded.

Before they could say more, Pansy and Theodore walked into the Common Room and grinned. “Finally, someone else is awake! Let’s get breakfast! I’m starving!” she said, pulling Draco up and out the door.

“Hey!” Harry called out and jumped up after Draco, placing an arm around his shoulders. “Pansy, there is some revenge coming your way when you’re with Neville now!”

“I highly doubt that! Draco’s not going to let that happen, right Dray?”

Laughing loudly, Draco shook his head. “I have therapy today, Pans. Harry is roaming free in this hour. So be warned.”

Harry smirked. “Alarmed would be the better word.”

Pansy widened her eyes. “I think I’ll take Neville for a date somewhere outside of Hogwarts. Somewhere you’ll never find us!”

“You could also just make it a study date. Harry would never show up at these” Theodore offered and Draco caught Harry’s outraged expression with amusement. Meanwhile, they had already reached the Great Hall and sat down on the Slytherin table. Harry waved to his friends in Gryffindor and Hermione waved back while Ron tried but lost half his breakfast on the fork.

Harry grabbed some bacon and toast, before he looked up at Draco. “You know, I never realized but reading and writing is so much easier right now! I used to spend about half an hour on one page and I couldn’t understand half the words. Now, the reading just flows.”

Pansy grinned and nodded. “We did try and help you with your reading and writing. Blaise for some reason had such a talent in teaching you. I think he would have made a great teacher.”

“If he ever got over the fact that he thinks he’s not good in dealing with children” Theodore commented and grinned.

Harry silently nodded, about to say something when McGonagall appeared in front of them. “Good morning. Once you’ve finished your breakfast, I would like to see Mr. Potter in my office.” And with that she was gone again.

Draco frowned. “That is a perfectly normal greeting on a morning, right?”

Theodore shrugged his shoulders. “It did look as if there was something going to happen in her office.”

“I mean, if you want, you can be my protectors again and come as well” Harry offered and grinned, when he bit into his toast again.

Needless to say, everyone followed Harry up to the headmistress’ office. She also didn’t seem to be very surprised to see him with his entourage walking into her room. The man who was surprised was the official Auror, sitting in her chair. It was the same one who had been here… when they had looked for the people who punished his relatives. Did they find out?

“Harry! You look so different! I haven’t seen you in a while!” he greeted him and smiled. “I’m here on official Ministry business, Harry. Have you heard what happened to your relatives?”

Draco watched Harry very closely and saw him actually faking a somewhat sad expression. It was so believable that had he not spent the last few months with him, he would have never seen the small sparks in his eyes and the miniscule jerk of his lips.

Nodding, Harry sighed. “I have. But I can’t say that I’m extremely surprised.”

“Well” Kingsley nodded. “As my last official Auror business, I would like to ask you whether or not you’d like to press charges against Unknown just in case we find out who did this someday.”

“Isn’t it a crime and therefore already supposed to be charged?” Harry asked and smirked.

Kingsley sighed. “It’s a grey area, since the spell hadn’t been illegal by that time. If you do want the person who did that charged, we can do that quickly, but it’s in your hands.”

Harry nodded. “I think I’ll pass on that.”

Draco caught Kingsley being incredibly surprised, but he sighed and nodded. “Then there’s nothing we can do, you do realize that, right? They might never come back out of their minds?”

“I understand.” Harry confirmed.

The Auror frowned, but apparently decided to let that go. He had also just seen Draco standing in the background and while Draco suddenly feared he had put two and two together, the Auror started talking. “Ah, I haven’t seen you in a while Mr. M…” Kingsley frowned when he was unable to say his last name.

“It’s ‘Snape’ now, Kingsley” Harry corrected and smirked.

“Snape? What in Merlin’s name happened since the last time we spoke?”

Draco exhaled, knowing that it wasn’t about Harry’s relatives. This topic was one he could talk about easily. “My mother decided that since I didn’t want to marry someone and have children with her to continue the Malfoy name, I am no longer allowed to use that name.”

Kingsley frowned and there was suddenly a very stern look on his face. “That wouldn’t make me unable to s…”

“She took his name.” Theodore explained and shrugged his shoulders.

That seemed to confirm the Auror’s assumption, as he nodded and shook his head. “Taking someone’s name is a war crime” he stated.

“What? How so?” Pansy asked and widened her eyes.

“I assume, Mr. Snape can confirm that, but losing one’s name has a lot of pain during the process” Kingsley explained. “People are known to have lost their conscious and others are too weak to use any more magic. So, it was used to strip people of their magic and name to finally win over someone who can’t fight back.”

Harry frowned and Draco thought he had seen an idea pop into his head. “I thought only people of the same family could take someone’s name?” What was he up to?

Kingsley shook his head. “No. For a long time that was what people believed, but in reality, I could take everyone’s name here – theoretically speaking.”

Harry narrowed his eyes, while Kingsley told Draco he would be investigating this as soon as he had the paperwork filed. And with that he left. Draco could tell that Harry’s mind was racing with ideas and whatever else there was to find in there.

Before he could say something however, to try and find out what he was thinking about and maybe stop him from doing something stupid, McGonagall started talking. She was looking down at a parchment and writing. Whatever she was saying seemed to be more of an offhanded comment, just in case Harry was about to do something.

“Should you be discussing anything in the grey area of legality, I would suggest you do it somewhere no one could listen in and tell the Aurors about, Mr. Potter.”

Harry smirked. “Thank you Headmistress. Will that be all?”

She had the same smirk on her face as she looked up and answered: “That will be all. Make sure to study a bit in a well seen place today.”

They left the office and Harry quickly turned to Theodore. “Hey, Theo, what does one have to do theoretically speaking to take someone’s name?”

Draco walked closer. “If there are different option to do so, Theo, tell Harry the one that is the most painful. She should go through the same thing I did.”

“Don’t worry about that, love” Harry smirked darkly. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve as well.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“Nope.” Harry huffed and gave Draco a soft kiss. “Just give me an alibi, that’s all I’m asking for.”

“Anything, bear. But we need to have you seen around Hogwarts for now.”

Harry chuckled and nodded. And so they all walked outside to the lake, where on this beautiful day quite a lot of students had decided to stay. There were even professors sitting close by though still remaining in the background.

That couldn’t have been better for what Harry quite clearly was about to do. Now even professors had seen him at Hogwarts on the day where something was supposed to happen to Draco’s former mother.

Surprisingly, an owl showed up – Dag had apparently seen Harry and decided to say hi. Harry was obsessed with him and had always some treats in his robes – which Dag definitely knew.

Theodore smirked “That owl is positively obsessed with you!”

“He is!” Harry laughed and petted his head. Dag hooted and apparently confirmed it. Draco chuckled and shook his head.

Behind Harry, Draco saw Severus approaching and smirked. “Morning, Severus.”

“Please Draco, we’re out in public. Professor Snape would be appropriate.” Severus smirked, clearly joking.

Harry turned around and smirked. “How is that an appropriate way of talking to one’s son, _Professor Snape_? Oh wait, since I am not your son, can I call you Severus?”

Severus shook his head. “Twenty points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter.”

“Sure.” Harry smirked lopsided. “If I continue with this, we might be able to get the House Cup.”

Theodore and Draco jumped up and encouraged Harry and Severus to continue with it, while Neville and Hermione walked closer and had apparently heard what was going on.

“Professor Snape, did you really take house points from Gryffindor?” Hermione asked with wide eyes.

Severus chuckled, clearly unable to keep it together. If someone would have told Draco that his godfather was okay with the better part of the Golden Trio and his nightmare student Neville around, he would have laughed in their face. Yet, here they were, everyone okay with what was going on.

“Would you like to join me for tea?” Severus asked and smiled at Harry and Draco, as if he knew something was going on.

Draco quickly remembered his run-in with Severus’ tea and the not so hidden additional ingredient: “Nope! Keep your Veritaserum where you last left it”

“I had no intention of using it!” Severus held up his hands innocently, while Harry laughed.

Hermione and Neville frowned at their friend, while Severus shrugged his shoulders.

“You should. There might be interesting things about to happen today” Harry hinted at what they had planned today. Meanwhile, his former house mates seemed completely lost with this discussion.

Severus chuckled and nodded. “The Headmistress already told me. Draco cursed your relatives, so you’re planning on going out today and cursing Narcissa. Tell me if something sounds familiar.”

“No, doesn’t ring a bell” Harry smirked.

Hermione gasped and shook her head. “Harry! That’s illegal!”

Pansy snorted. “Barely. It’s a grey area, Hermione.”

“So technically still half legal” Theodore continued, shrugging his shoulders.

Harry laughed, while Hermione clearly wasn’t happy with all of what was going on. Severus seemingly had decided that now was a good idea to leave, since he had seen Harry on Hogwarts property which he was definitely going to tell any Auror that was going to look into that case.

Before anything else could happen, Dag hooted again and flew up, towards a man approaching Hogwarts. Draco quickly recognized him and smiled broadly, walking towards that man.

“Oliver! What are you doing at Hogwarts?”

His former babysitter grinned at him and greeted him as well. “Draco! Nice to see you again! Headmistress McGonagall called me in to look at the school owls. Apparently something seems to be wrong. I’m according to the grapevine still a rather good man for a job like that – even though I don’t need the extra money anymore.”

Draco nodded. He was just about to tell him that he might come by his shop again to look for an owl himself (since Draco thought that his former parent’s owls weren’t really made for him anymore), however Oliver interrupted his action.

“So, where’s the child that was lucky enough to get this beautiful owl?” he asked, looking at Dag, while he nodded impressed. “He looks like a normal owl. I cannot believe how much he changed.”

“Oh, it’s um… not a child anymore.” Draco smirked. “It’s Harry Potter.” He quickly summarized what happened to their holy Savior, when Harry walked and placed an arm around his boyfriend.

Oliver seemed flabbergasted, but Dag quickly changed it, when he flew back to Harry and sat on his shoulder, staring down on the world with a rather proud look on his face. As if it had been his secret to keep and for some reason he was incredibly proud to have served a man like Harry.

Chuckling, the shop owner nodded. “Well, Mr. Potter, you did a good job with Dag. And it’s been an honor having you in my shop. You’re always welcomed back.”

“I will accept that offer and be in your shop every minute of every day now. I loved it.” Harry laughed and shook his head, when Oliver joined.

“Actually” Draco interrupted these two idiots, “I was wondering whether I could come by sometime soon and get an owl myself. I’ve been disowned by my family and I need a way of communicating in the Wizarding World.”

Oliver nodded. “Come by any time.”

Draco crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. “I will _buy_ an owl from you, Oliver.”

“That’s a discussion we’re going to have another time. I’m supposed to meet the headmistress now. It’s been a pleasure making your acquaintance, Mr. Potter.”

“It’s all mine” Harry answered, bowing slightly.

Before Draco had the time to tell Oliver that he really was going to pay for his owl, Harry pulled him with away and they joined their friends again for a lazy study session.

In the afternoon, they split up. Draco and Pansy walked to the library and Theodore and Harry were doing… something. Most likely visiting a certain person to maybe do something not entirely legal. Who could tell?

On the way to the library they were joined again by Neville, Hermione and Blaise who followed them, apparently happy to study. In the library, very out of character, Ron was already sitting on a table, studying. Everyone joined and while they were trying to go into detail on Runes and Astronomy, along with Herbology and DADA, Draco couldn’t really concentrate. Next to his Mind Healing session which was taking place in less than an hour, there were other things on his mind.

Firstly, Harry had been so mad for him, even though not many people had seen it, but Draco had felt his anger. Secondly, his mind healing session was coming up in a few hours and he had no idea what to do there. And thirdly… he was just completely confused.

His life seemed like a rollercoaster. So many ups and downs and now he felt as if he’d had a loop and completely lost his orientation while the rollercoaster continued to race towards the end. It was just crazy. However, he was on this thing together with his friends and Harry. He knew if someone was going to look out for him, it was all of these crazy people. And at the front was Harry. Which was probably why he was doing what he was doing right now: protecting the person he loved. Well, rather taking revenge for him.

The irony of Harry doing for Draco what he had done for him with his relatives wasn’t lost on him, though.


	85. Chapter 85

The first thing Draco saw when he entered his room was a floating Pensieve in the middle and Harry sitting on the floor with a book, quietly reading. Draco smirked and closed the door with a thud, which made his boyfriend looking up.

“What are you planning on doing with that, Harry?” he asked gesturing towards the memory viewing object.

Grinning, Harry winked at him. “I thought you maybe wanted to see what happened. You know, since you couldn’t be there?”

Draco looked over and bit his lower lip. “I don’t think I should…”

Harry placed the book on the floor and got up, walking closer. “Love, I guarantee you want to see this. Also, if you worry that the Aurors could see this memory, they can’t. Since it’s not your original memory, nobody can find it inside your head.”

“How do you know?”

“Experience?” Harry offered and smirked. “Do you want me to come with you in there?”

Draco nodded. He smiled at his boyfriend and the two of them fell into the memory. The Manor appeared out of nowhere, Harry outside. He locked the wards with a complicated spell that Draco had never seen before. The magical wall was pulsating red for a few seconds, before everything seemed back to normal. Apparently, his boyfriend had more tricks up his sleeve than he had thought.

With a simple wave of his hands, the front door was ripped open, almost exploding. And through the dust created by this blast, Harry’s shadowy figure appeared. Narcissa almost ran into the foyer, staring at the intruder.

“I will get the Aurors over here in a second if you don’t leave right now!” she screeched.

Harry smirked and stayed there until the dust settled around him. He brushed some of the white particles off his shoulders nonchalantly and looked back at Draco’s former mother. “I would like to see you try.”

She glared at him in confusion and anger, before she clearly tried to get the Ministry over here. Whatever she was trying didn’t work. “What are you doing here?!”

“It’s a mix between justice and revenge. Mostly revenge though.” He elegantly took out his wand and threw it into the air, before catching it, clearly making a show out of what was going on. “I’m here to take away from you what you took away from Draco.”

Narcissa huffed and shook her head. “What: You can take my name? That is ridiculous! Nobody can take just some name!”

Before Harry could even attempt so say something, even though he looked like he wanted to let her into a small little secret – which Draco was sure he knew about, Narcissa laughed. It was a rather evil laugh and didn’t remind him of his mother at all. What happened with her? How did she get so insane? Yes, she had always been on the insane part, but not like this.

“I’m a _Malfoy_ , you’re a nobody compared to me.”

Harry sighed and shook his head. “The Potters have an equal history to the Malfoy’s. But I’m not here to talk about that. You can keep thinking what you want. I’ll take your name and we’ll see who’s the last person laughing.”

Narcissa snorted and shook her head. “You cannot take my name!”

“Oh, but here’s where you’re wrong: I can take away anybody’s name. Yours included. And as the natural successor of the Lordship to the Black name due to inheritance, which I’ve checked with the Goblins, I will _refuse_ to have you be part of my house after you’ve lost your name.”

Harry pointed his wand at her, before she could even say another word and clearly said: “Innominatam!” Narcissa’s eyes widened with panic and within a few seconds, a whirlwind grew around her. It got stronger and stronger, destroying the house around her and Harry nodded, smirking darkly.

Before anything else happened, he said another spell and turned around to walk out the house, the memory falling into itself and Draco was thrown out of it, staring at his boyfriend.

“Holy shit, Merlin’s beard, Potter! I don’t think I’ll ever do something that’s going to piss you off. Your magical ability is beyond anything I’ve ever seen!” Draco said, shaking his head.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and looked away, blushing slightly. “I had not intended on something like that. I think I was being led by too much anger.”

“So, what if she tells the Aurors you did that?!” Draco sighed, not wanting to imagine what would happen once Kingsley or anybody else would be coming over again.

Grinning, Harry winked at him. “She won’t remember, because I’ve taken her memory of who the person was taking her name. In her mind it was just a shadowy figure that looks probably like Lucius Malfoy. Just for shits and giggles.”

Draco snorted. “You are a perfectly evil Slytherin.”

Harry chuckled. “Thank you, love.” Before he could continue, Draco narrowed his eyes and decided he needed a few more answers.

“Harry, I thought Theodore went to my former mother's with you?”

Smirking, the former Gryffindor shrugged his shoulders. “He wanted to. But I thought it would be a little too obvious, two people going to attack the Malfoys. Right now, if the Aurors decide to investigate, they might just think it was a hate crime against Death Eaters.”

Draco shook his head. “Or this Kingsley Shacklebolt Auror Minister whatever he is now might realize that you've asked him about taking someone's name and he'll suspect you.”

“Which is exactly why Theodore didn't come. He's my second alibi. You see, I was spending time with you, but he then offered to teach me more about Charms and since I've spent almost my whole eighth year as a child, I accepted the extra study time.” Harry winked at him. “Also, Pansy saw us studying in the Common Room.”

Unable to hold back laughter, Draco shook his head. “You have all your bases covered, don't you.” He grinned and turned to look at the Pensieve again. There was something he hadn't quite figured out yet. “So, is my former mother now a Black? I didn't quite understand what you did there.”

Harry chuckled. “No.” He sighed. “Before I went to pay her a visit, I went to Gringotts and asked them about the heir thing. I wanted to make sure that she couldn't just turn around and get her Black heritage back.” He frowned. “It's complicated Old Magic shit, just like the fact that you can take someone's name. However, the goblins told me that if I as the official and last Black heir...” he gave Draco an apologetic look, “... could decide not to take someone back into the family or whatever. So I signed that thing and since then she won't be able to be a Black.”

“But she _is_ a Black.” Draco frowned, not really understanding all the bureaucracy.

“She _was_ a Black. Apparently, if you marry someone, you take your portion of the family magic with you and merge it into the other's name. I guess that's how the Malfoy family magic was so strong. They continued to marry into powerful families, so their magic just got stronger.” Harry frowned and tilted his head. “Maybe that was why your mother wanted someone to marry into the family? She wanted more power?”

Draco scoffed. “That wouldn't be beneath her.” He sighed. “Last question: What happens to this magic, if you take someone's name? Couldn't she just take her part of the family magic back?”

Harry shook his head. “From what I've learnt; if you take someone's name you kind of take away they're family magic. They're left with their own magical core or whatever. The fact that you were still powerfull even though you had no name, proves how powerful you are.”

“Yeah, right” Draco rolled his eyes and was quickly pulled towards Harry in a very tight hug.

After a sweet kiss, Harry whispered into his ear: “I mean, you stole my heart without trying!”

Smirking, Draco shook his head. “You are just a hopeless romantic.”

“I do feel honored by that. Anyway, let’s forget all this and have fun tonight? We’re having a party to start out busy study season. Pansy’s been planning for days, I think.” Harry grabbed is hand and pulled him out of his room.

Laughing, Draco nodded. Yes, Pansy had for some reason decided she wanted to have more parties. Not that anybody was against it. The younger years enjoyed seeing the parties and the older years were looking forward to something like that. Especially since nobody thought they could have even an ounce of freedom in the next few weeks.

Well, Draco was sure that Harry was going to find a way for some sort of freedom, but in general, nobody thought it was possible.

“Come on” Harry smirked and put his arms around Draco, walking into the extremely empty Common Room and through the tunnel into their party room.

Inside, Pansy was charming a few things to float up and Blaise made some tables appear while Theodore and Millicent tried their best to get the piano through the hallway.

Harry snickered and shook his head. “Shrink it down, guys! We’re wizards! You look like Muggles who have no idea what’s going on!”

“It’s an old piano, Potter! We could damage it!” Millicent answered and threw Harry an evil glare.

“Then put a protective charm around it first.”

Theodore and Millicent stopped, looked at each other and then at Harry. The male Slytherin groaned and shook his head. “I’m supposed to be smart, right? Why in Merlin’s name is a former Gryffindor smarter than I am?!”

Harry laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “That’s just practical knowledge, Theo. When you’re on the run you can’t really take huge things with you, so we shrunk everything. Most things, actually, not everything.”

Sighing, Theodore put a protective charm on the piano, before shrinking it and they walked into the party room, putting it there and dropping the charms again. Draco had followed all of this closely and laughed over how his Slytherins seemed angry at themselves for not having thought of something so simple.

Most of the younger years of Slytherin walked in with food upon food, placing it on top of the tables Blaise had charmed. Harry walked over to an ancient looking music box and started it. Meanwhile, Draco transfigured a few rocks into couches and arm chairs, happy that at least the easy things seemed to work well with his hatred for this subject…

Harry placed an arm around his shoulders and pressed a kiss on his cheek. “Love, stop thinking about school for at least an evening.”

Draco chuckled and while more and more Slytherins walked into their party room, Harry led him into the middle and with Pansy and Theodore, they danced until their feet hurt. The happy atmosphere, the amazing food and the good company was all Draco needed tonight.

*

A little later, closer to midnight than Draco would have wanted, he walked into his room in search of his boyfriend. The party was still going on, but Harry had decided to go to his room early, apparently being tired – which Draco knew wasn’t the case. He was hiding something and Draco wanted to find out what it was.

Strangely enough, Harry had neither been in his own room, nor in the Common Room. When he walked into his own room, however, he found the black haired wizard right in the middle.

“Harry, what are you doing?” Draco frowned at his boyfriend, sitting on the floor, surrounded by movie upon movie. They seemed to be from all eras and all Muggle. It warmed Draco’s heart to see his man looking so concentrated on whatever he was doing.

Looking up, his boyfriend smirked. “We’re going to find you another favorite movie again, Dray! I know you like romance movies with strong independent characters, maybe a little humor as well. So…” he motioned at all the movies around him. “We’re going to watch as many movies as we can here and continue when we’re out of Hogwarts until we find one you love as much as you loved that other one.”

Draco blinked faster and bit his lower lip. That was such an amazing thing his boyfriend just did! Since he didn’t like his former favorite movie anymore, Harry had gotten probably all the movies he could find. Just for him! He was feeling so much love from this idiot, sitting on the floor.

Harry chuckled and got up, walking closer towards him. “If you don’t want to watch one now, I understand. It is in the middle of the night, sure enough. We just had a party and it might be a little too much. That was just something I wanted to show you. I frankly couldn’t wait.”

“You are the best human being ever!” Draco said and hugged Harry tightly. “And I think I want to end this day in your arms watching a movie you picked.”

And so, after an amazing party, they ended up watching Pretty Woman, which Draco liked but he didn’t count as his favorites – yet. It was two in the morning, when Harry crawled into Draco’s bed, nuzzling into his boyfriend’s side.

“Are you going to stay here?” Draco asked and pressed a lazy kiss on Harry’s forehead.

Harry hummed and pulled Draco closer. “Unless you want me to go to my own room.” His eyes were closed and he did not let go Draco. It was as if he wanted to let Draco know that there was nothing which would make him let go of him.

Chuckling, Draco shook his head. “Absolutely not. I want you right here.”

Opening one eye, Harry looked at him and smirked. He kissed him softly. And sighed, placing his head back on the pillow. Draco turned to his side, looking at his boyfriend for the longest time. After a while, Harry opened his eyes again and chuckled.

Apparently deciding that since they were both not sleeping yet, Harry asked a question: “So, how was therapy?”

Even though Harry had used the Muggle term, Draco still knew what he meant. “I think it was good. I can’t really tell right now.”

“Was he respectful?” Harry asked with raised eyebrows.

Draco chuckled. “Yes, bear. He was very respectful. Don’t worry about that.”

“I will always worry about people being disrespectful to you. Just because I ended up saving the Wizarding World by accident, doesn’t mean I couldn’t have turned out evil. Sometimes I think I am at the very least slightly evil.”

Snorting, Draco shook his head. First of all, Harry had not _by accident_ saved the Wizarding World. Well, that wasn’t the important thing in this discussion. Harry thought he was evil? “What are you talking about, Harry?”

Sighing, Harry lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. “Did you not see how I… enjoyed harming Narcissa? I looked like a maniac!”

Nodding weakly, Draco traced Harry’s cheekbone, making him look at him again. “True. You did look a little evil, but she had it coming. And it’s not as if you’re running around torturing everyone you see. You had a good reason to do so.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Of course I am right.” Draco smirked and tried to hold his position against Harry, who was pushing him off the bed. Well, he stopped that rather quickly.

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Let’s be serious for a few moments: Do you want to continue with this Mind Healer?”

Draco shrugged his shoulder. “I honestly don’t know yet.”

“What do you mean?” Harry placed his head in his hand, looking down at him.

“Well…” Draco didn’t really know how to put it into words. Yes, they had talked about significant subjects and it was probably important for him to work through his teenager years where he had lived with the fucking Dark Lord under one roof, but… Maybe he could do this on his own? Talking – especially to someone who didn’t know him entirely – seemed to be a little weird.

“Love” Harry nudged him and smiled when he returned back to reality. “Why don’t you want to talk to a Mind Healer?”

“I can talk to you.” Draco smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Harry would always be there for him. If he had a problem, he could just ask him for advice, right?

Harry smiled lovingly. “But I’m not professional.”

“Well, you will always listen to me, right?”

Harry chuckled and nodded, pulling Draco closer. “You know a Mind Healer is literally being paid to sit down and listen to you, right?”

Draco sighed. “I know, but it feels weird.”

Harry nodded and smiled. “Would it help if I told you that I’ve asked Severus to recommend me a Mind Healer too?”

“You want one?”

“I’ve already got one.” Smiling, his boyfriend softly pushed Draco’s hair behind his ear. “When I was talking to your dad after I got out of the Hospital Wing when I turned eighteen, I asked him to give me information for a Mind Healer.”

“Why?” Draco didn’t’ mean to ask that question. It sounded as if he was looking down on Harry for having a Mind Healer, which he really wasn’t. He just… He wanted to know why someone to strong like Harry would even want to have a Mind Healer. To Draco it always sounded as if only the weak ones were given someone to help them with their minds. As if he wasn’t able to work with his _own_ mind.

Harry stroked his cheek. “I realized living with you guys that I had a fucked up childhood with my relatives and I think I need to talk about it. Also the part that I’ve told you before – thinking I was a bad person – that needs to be addressed and… well, a Mind Healer seemed like a good idea.”

Draco frowned and turned to look at the ceiling, unable to form any clear thoughts. Harry looked at him and smiled, brushing a strain of hair out of his face softly. This loving action made him face his boyfriend again.

“As an ending argument, I would like to state that maybe you can set a trial phase.” Harry grinned. “Something like half a year or an entire year and at the end you can sit down and think on whether or not it actually worked. If it did, continue and if not… or if it’s already enough, you could just stop it.”

“Did you already have your Mind Healing session?” Draco asked curious.

“I did.” Harry smirked. “She compared me to a baby elephant.”

Draco burst out laughing. “What?!”

“It’s a Muggle story” Harry explained. “A while ago, when circuses had elephants, they would keep baby elephants there, locked with a chain to a peg. The baby would try to get away, but it would never succeed. And it would keep this mind set even when the elephant was an adult, which was why they never tried to get away, even though it was easy to escape by then. They were brought up with the proof that it was impossible.” Harry paused and smiled at Draco. “So my Mind Healer told me to look at what’s keeping me back from living the life I want and fight for it. The barriers might just be in my mind.”

Smiling softly, Draco nodded. “I think I need to change my Mind Healer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story about the elefant comes from Let Me Tell You A Story by Jorge Bucay (one of my favourite authors)


	86. Chapter 86

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed a few more details in the previous chapter, thank you AcadianProud for pointig out the problems. I had originally actually wanted to add these details (along with a few others), and when I opened this chapter I had forgotten what I wanted to add, so now I'm glad I remembered.  
> Anyway, enjoy this chapter :)

Draco frowned when he entered his room a few weeks later. They had spent so much of their free time studying and preparing in the library that Draco was able to pretty much name every book in there in every aisle. That was by far too much time in the library. Maybe Hermione and Theodore felt happy there, but for Draco... he needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

Anyway, what made Draco frown, was an origami swan flying around in circles. It looked rather nicely made and the magic surrounding it was incredibly strong. It was almost sizzling in the air. He could feel it from where he was standing and the swan was on the other side of the room. As if the swan realized he had entered the room, it floated towards him.

“What is that?” Pansy asked, leaning at the door frame.

“I have no idea” Draco answered, placing his satchel on his bed and holding his hand out for the swan. He did catch Pansy craning her neck to see what was written there.

> Dear Draco
> 
> Stop learning for the test for one evening. Do it for me, because I charmed the origami swan, and it took me almost half a day to figure out the correct magic. The last one went up in flames…
> 
> I’m tired of writing the same message over and over again. Nevertheless, I will continue to do so, because it’s for you and I love you. Even if I have to write my hands bloody, if I have to drown in a sea of ink, I will continue until it’s perfect. Let’s hope it’s this one.
> 
> Anyway, come outside to the lake and spend a few hours with me there. Wait, I had another reason: Do it for you, because you’ve been studying none-stop. And I believe you could use a little time off and just enjoying life.
> 
> I’m waiting. Outside. And just because I know you, I haven’t packed a blanket so unless you want to visit me in the Hospital Wing for the next few days, you have to come and find me.
> 
> See you soon
> 
> Harry

“What an idiot” Draco murmured and sighed.

Pansy behind him chuckled and shrugged her shoulders when he turned to look at her. “He does know you. I don’t think you’d let him freeze to death. Additionally, I think it would do you good to get some time with your man.”

Draco shook his head and walked over to his desk where he grabbed the book he had wanted to give Pansy and also grabbed a blanked. “I’m going to kill him when I find him.”

“I doubt that” Pansy smirked and without any other words, she turned around and walked to their secret spot, most likely telling their friends that he won’t be joining them that evening. Or rather night.

It was already almost eleven o’clock. How long had he waited there? Once again sighing, Draco hurried down the corridor, evaded Severus – who he was sure had nevertheless seen him – and actually made it in a few minutes to the lake.

He hadn’t immediately seen Harry only after a few moments, where he wandered down another path, hidden by the rocks on which the castle was built, did he see a shadowy figure lying in the grass.

Shaking his head, Draco walked closer. The closer he got, the more he could see it actually was Harry. His head lay in his arms which he had pushed under it. One knee was bent and he swayed it from side to side.

“You came!” he greeted Draco before he had the time to say something.

Rolling his eyes, Draco growled. “You left me no choice, really.”

Harry finally turned his head to look at Draco and he smirked. “Of course I did. I told you, you could come visit me in the Hospital Wing for the next few days.”

“Why in Merlin’s name did I decide you were boyfriend material?” Draco pinched the bridge of his nose, while Harry pushed himself up into a sitting position.

He chuckled softly and shrugged his shoulders. Draco turned back to look at him and found his eyes almost sparkling, even with the darkness surrounding them, it was beautiful. The stars were illuminating Harry’s features perfectly and the soft waves in the background made this whole situation so much dreamlike.

Draco smiled softly and willingly sat down, when Harry pulled him down. He placed the soft red blanket over his lap and leaned at Harry’s chest who himself had lain back onto a huge rock.

“I have no idea, Draco. I don’t think I’m boyfriend material myself. So what does that tell you about me?” Harry chuckled softly and kissed Draco’s forehead.

“It tells me that I didn’t do a good job with parenting when you still have problems like that.”

Laughing, Harry pulled Draco closer and shook his head. “That’s just what I’m like, Dray. And I think you did a phenomenal job in raising me, which does sound slightly weird.”

Draco smirked and leaned at the rock as well, still having Harry’s arm around him. His boyfriend was wrong – completely. He was almost perfect boyfriend material. At least for him. Honestly, he couldn’t think of someone who would work with him as well as Harry did.

Even though they had such different characters, Draco needed someone like Harry who for some reason didn’t take life too serious. Yes, sometimes he was serious and they were talking about all kinds of stuff. But in general, Harry lived life rather easy and he also seemed to enjoy it.

“You’re thinking too much, Draco” Harry whispered softly and pulled him closer again.

Chuckling, Draco shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just thinking about you. Us. I don’t think that’s a problem, now is it?”

He raised his eyes to look at Harry directly. The former Gryffindor smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “Why are you thinking about us, when I’m here now?! We can just… be us.”

“You’re right.”

“Thank you.”

Harry’s almost sarcastic sounding ‘thank you’ made Draco laugh and he placed a kiss on his boyfriend’s lips, before he turned to the night sky.

The cloudless sky almost shone alone and with the moon almost being full, it wasn’t only the stars that were shining. Draco looked around and quickly found what he was looking for.

“Do you see the star over the lake, on top of the mountain there?” he pointed to the shadow under a particularly bright shining star. Harry nodded and Draco smiled. “That’s called Gamma Draconis.”

Harry widened his eyes when he turned back to Draco. “It’s the dragon constellation?”

“Draco, yes. It’s me.” Draco chuckled. “It’s the eighth largest constellation in the night sky. When I was a child my mother used to tell me that I could do something amazing that would also catapult me to a status of famous wizards.” He sighed and nestled into Harry’s side again, trying to say what he wanted to say as quietly as possible, so Harry wouldn’t hear it. Even though he really wanted him to hear it. “Never thought it would be for being on the wrong side of war.”

He felt Harry leaning over him and a kiss on the top of his head. When he looked up, he saw Harry smiling down at him softly. “You know, life isn’t over, yet. You’re no longer a Malfoy, love. And in my opinion, you could be something so much better than the eighth best person. In my eyes, Draco Alexander Snape, you are _everything_.”

“You’re an old charmer, Harry Potter!”

Harry laughed and pulled Draco impossibly closer. “Only for you, Dray.”

A few moments, both enjoyed the silence of the waves crashing in the distance, the earth rotating and the stars wandering through the night sky. Draco nestled closer to Harry again, feeling the heat from his body all around him and a soft happy sigh escaped him, when he closed his eyes.

Harry rubbed his arms and he smiled, placing a hand on the former Gryffindor’s chest. In his wildest memories, he would have never been able to predict what life had in store for him in his eighth year. Almost being married off, having to take care of baby Harry, getting adopted by Severus, being in a relationship with Harry freaking Potter… That was something not even his dreams could come up with, right?

“Are you falling asleep, Draco?” Harry asked and chuckled, which made Draco smile, feeling the butterflies in his stomach.

He grinned and turned his face so he was hiding it in Harry’s cloak. It smelled like Harry and… happiness. “Almost” Draco answered and decided to sit back up again. Leaning at the rock, he placed his head on Harry’s shoulder and looked up at the night sky again.

“Do you know what this star represents?” he asked as Harry turned to him. Following Draco’s gesture, Harry looked up at the stars and seemed to have found the brightest star in the sky.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry turned back to Draco. “Another star in the Draco constellation?”

“Not really” Draco chuckled. “It’s the Dog Star, also known as Sirius.”

Harry snorted and shook his head. “Of course it’s called the Dog Star. But it’s nice to know that… Sirius is so bright.”

Draco nodded and smiled weakly. “It’s the brightest star by far and it even goes back to very old history. The Egyptians based their whole calendar on it and they called it ‘Nile Star’ since whenever it would appear at the sky, the Nile would rise again.”

Harry looked at him in silent awe. That was until he found his voice again. “How do you know so much about stars? I mean, we do have Astronomy, but I never heard about it with so much history.”

Draco smiled softly and watched the star wandered through the sky which made him feel so small, actually being able to see the earth turning. “I’ve always been rather interested in the star constellations.” He grinned. “If your family is named after them, it makes it rather easy to be interested. When I was little, Severus gave me a book with all kind of knowledge about stars and I would learn everything by heart and tell anyone who would listen to some trivia about stars.”

Laughing softly, Harry shook his head. “I can almost imagine it, little Draco walking around asking people if they want to hear something about stars! It’s adorable!”

Rolling his eyes, Draco punched Harry in his shoulders, which sadly didn’t stop him from laughing. Not that Draco wanted him to. He was smirking as well, and whenever Harry was so happy, it made him happy as well. Knowing where Harry had come from and seeing him so… alive and content was everything to him.

Harry leaned over to the side, temporarily taking away his warmth from Draco and he placed a box in front of him. “I thought about the perfect date for a while and I just couldn’t figure out what you would want and what we should do…”

“So you decided to threaten me with having to visit you in the Hospital Wing if I didn’t come looking for you with a blanket?” Draco interrupted him with a lopsided sneer on his face.

“No!” Harry laughed and shook his head. “I decided that stargazing, strawberries and just you and me is perfect enough for a date.”

Draco frowned. “Hmm. Stargazing, Strawberries and… Starvation…?”

“Nope” Harry shook his head, clearly amused by Draco trying to get the three alliterations (or almost).

“Stargazing, Strawberries and Statements.”

“What kind of statements?” Harry asked grinning broadly.

Draco smirked. “I love you.”

“Oh. I love you too, Dray.”

That surely was a statement, but Draco wasn’t really happy with his alliteration attempt and he frowned again, trying to come up with something.

“Stargazing, Strawberries and Staircases.”

“Where?” Harry looked around, biting back a grin, though it didn’t work entirely.

Draco smirked. “Stargazing, Strawberries and Stakeouts.”

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Are we staking out the movement of the stars? Will they change formation if we don’t keep tabs on them?”

“Stargazing, Strawberries and Staples.”

“No.”

“Stargazing, Strawberries and Stamps.”

“I think you’re losing touch with reality, Draco” Harry said and he was clearly trying his hardest to bite back his laughter, though he was close to breaking. And that was Draco’s goal right now.

“Stargazing, Strawberries and Stacey.”

Harry belted out his laughter and turned to his side, shaking his head. Draco chuckled, watching his boyfriend, slowly gaining back control over his laughter. There were tears running down his cheeks and he held his stomach. All of this made Draco laugh softly as well.

There was one word he had found almost a second after he had said ‘statements’ which was matching their situation pretty perfectly. And once Harry was back sitting next to him, Draco took out his wand.

He concentrated on the situation that had happened a few seconds earlier and silently spoke the incantation. Blue strings shot out of his wand and transformed into an animal in front of both of them. Once it was finished, it galloped over the lake and Draco turned back to Harry, smiling softly. 

Before he could say something, Harry followed his example, creating a Patronus himself. They both galloped through the dark night, over the lake and the two lovers watched them for a short while, until Draco finally said what he had on his mind.

“Stargazing, Strawberries and Stags.”

Harry returned his smile and nodded softly. “I love you too, Draco. You mean more to me than you could ever imagine. I’m pretty sure you saved my life.”

Draco hid his wand again, placing a hand on Harry’s cheek. “I think you saved me as well.”

He leaned in, kissing the former Gryffindor softly and felt Harry pulling him closer. In the end, he leaned his head against Harry’s chest and they silently watched time go by, eating strawberries and enjoying life, as the stars wandered over the night sky and the sun slowly changed the night into an unbelievably beautiful morning.


	87. Chapter 87

“Harry, your timing couldn’t be better!” Blaise greeted him, when Harry walked around the bookcases and frowned at the Slytherins who were clearly not hiding themselves from family and pureblood pressure. He clearly knew that was what they were doing, though nobody said a word and Harry apparently also didn’t feel the need to point it out.

He raised his eyebrows and frowned at them. “And pray tell… how is my timing of the utmost importance in this precise moment?”

Millicent huffed. “If you would win in the Muggle lotto game and won a million… money…”

“Pounds” Harry corrected and Draco saw him trying to hold back a grin, though he only barely managed. “Go on.” He walked closer and sat down between Pansy and Draco, when the latter put his arm around his boyfriend and smiled at him.

“Well” Millicent got their attention again. “Blaise would buy a plane ticket to Brazil, Theodore would use it for whatever Muggle technology you said you’d do, Pansy and Draco would buy a flat in London and I would get a farm with some horses… Come on, which of these doesn’t sound so exciting?” She looked at Draco and Pansy rather accusatory.

Harry chuckled. “Why would you buy something from the Muggle technology, Theo?” he turned to the Slytherin and he rolled his eyes.

“Come on, wizards made quite a few things, but when it comes to electricity the Muggles are far beyond anything the wizards have. Light-years away!” The Slytherin justified his decision.

“How do you think Theo has a boring wish?! Pans and Dray literally would go for a flat! Not even anything fun…” Millicent threw her hands into the air and Harry chuckled.

He seemed rather amused by their discussion. “Well, I mean if I won the lottery I’d buy Manor and rebuilt it into either a day school for children with magical parents or I’d turn it into an animal friendly environment for people who go on holiday and don’t want to leave their animals home alone. I haven’t decided yet.” He shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

Theodore was the first to speak up and he sighed: “Okay, I accept that my idea is boring compared to yours.”

Harry laughed loudly and shook his head. He got up and motioned them to do so as well. “Severus told me to get all of you up to the Great Hall. The ceremony is about to start and they want all of us there as well.”

Sighing, they finally got up and headed to the Great Hall, even though nobody seemed rather interested in their final meal and the presentation of whatever McGonagall had planned. While Theodore led their little group through the dungeon, Harry waited for Pansy and Draco.

“You’re looking for a flat, then?” he asked when they finally stepped next to each other and followed Theodore.

Pansy nodded. “But we clearly have no idea how to do anything in the Muggle world. We wanted to find a flat and we thought – for some reason – we could just go to London and” she chuckled, “ _bang_ , there’s a flat for us. Now, we need to look for something. I don’t even know where to start.”

Draco sighed. “Luckily, Severus said we could stay with him until we find a flat. But he lives in a rather tiny appartment close to Diagon Alley. I never knew where he lived…”

“Yeah” Harry nodded. “Until I was there over the summer, I always figured he lived in a huge Manor, like the Malfoy Manor.”

Hmm. That name didn’t hurt Draco anymore. Surprising, what a few weeks away from his former parents would do for him.

“Anyway” Harry brought him back to reality. “I know about a place. If you want I can ask the owner if you can check it out? It’s basically in the middle of London.”

Pansy stopped dead in her track and stared at Harry. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Absolutely not. That’s the least I could do!” Harry shook his head and motioned Pansy to walk again, since they had now quite the distance between them and Theodore.

“Harry, the middle of London is quite expensive. How much would it cost? Do you know?” Draco asked and they walked faster to get back in line with Theodore.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry was still grinning. “I don’t know. I mean, looking at the flat doesn’t mean you have to take it…”

“I would love to take a look at it!” Pansy beamed as they finally reached the entrance of the Great Hall and slipped in to where they were supposed to sit.

“Sure thing” Harry whispered. “But we need to wait for a bit before we can look at it. Neville and I have decided to go and look what the Auror Training would have to offer us. I’m pretty sure I’ll drop out, though. But the Ministry wants it.” He rolled his eyes, while both Pansy and Draco grinned at him.

When he looked to the front, Draco caught Severus slightly disapproving look, though he quickly turned back to McGonagall who was in the middle of her speech about what all of them had gone through. And yes, they were the last students who had witnessed the Chamber of Secrets being opened; they were adults when the Battle of Hogwarts had happened… So yes. They went through quite a lot.

In the end, Hermione and Ginny were holding speeches as well, Harry applauding loudly and calling to them approvingly while all of Slytherin followed suit. Draco chuckled – Harry had changed so much in Slytherin. Would they have been so supportive of the other people without him? They had always looked after themselves, not the other houses. Harry had changed that and he had definitely been a big influence in house unity.

And that was it. The final meal, the final night, the final friendly exchange between all of them. Even though it wasn’t the last time they would see each other… it was still depressing. Draco fell in his bed that night, slightly depressed. All tests had been written, everything was packed, presents were exchanged. It was over.

*

Living with Severus for the past week had been absolutely awesome! However, Draco really wanted to get his own place and he couldn’t wait until Pansy was back from her parent’s, when they could look at the place Harry had told them about.

And talking about Harry… this fool hadn’t shown up for any day in the past week, too busy working on something. Whatever it was, it must have been rather important, since not even Severus had heard a word from him. And that was highly unusual.

Finally, eight days after they had finished their studies at Hogwarts, Pansy came over and moved into Severus’ guest bedroom, Draco’s room or rather Severus’ study. And with her arrival came a rather distinct owl.

“Dag!” Pansy called out and hugged the owl who seemed rather happy to see them. He really had transformed from the shy owl in a dark corner to the beautiful, stunning and confident owl he now was. The letter on his feet was from Harry.

> Hello my darlings (you’re so welcome for this, Pans)
> 
> I have finally managed to get free from the Ministry’s clutches. They tried to get me to continue their Auror program and I’m not the only one leaving. I may have corrupted Neville on the way as well (you’re welcome Pans, again…). Anyway, if you still want to see the apartment, I’ve told you about, I got the keys and we can just go and look at it during this week.
> 
> Tell Severus, I’ll be over for Wednesday dinner; it’s the usual day for him. And I’ll bring some take-away. I’m currently going through all the vaults in my name and I’m cleaning out what I don’t need, so I might bring some things for you to go through as well. The Black vault has some interesting things in there. So I’m staying at the Leaky’s with Neville.
> 
> Oh and Remus wrote and invited all of us over to his new house, apparently it’s almost finished. I’m helping him turning the backyard into a child friendly environment on Friday, if you’d like to come as well.
> 
> That’s all from me… Neville wants to write as well.
> 
> Love you all! Especially you, Dray.
> 
> Harry

Draco wasn’t really sure what he should think of it. Harry seemed to have quite a lot to do. But why wouldn’t he tell him about all of this to his face? Why did he go to the Leaky instead of living with him? Well, Severus’ flat was rather small, but still…

The handwriting changed and Draco recognized Neville’s there.

> Hi Pansy! Hey Draco.
> 
> Just a quick reminder that I’m still alive. I’m looking for a job in Diagon Alley right now, Harry got us a good room, he’s rather famous around here…
> 
> I love you Pansy and we’ll talk as soon as I’m able to stand there and feel like I’ve accomplished something. Having no job and being homeless doesn’t really seem as if I can achieve things, so I might need a few more days.
> 
> But I promise to keep my eyes on Harry so he doesn’t do anything stupid. But he stays in Gringotts basically all day long. I only see him for dinner and breakfast. Plus, he speaks at night – _no, I don’t! You promised not to tell anyone, Neville! I love you Draco, I don’t talk about you in my sleep!_ – Anyway, stop reading my over my shoulder, Harry.
> 
> I’ll see you in a few days, hopefully. You’re awesome, Pansy!
> 
> Yours forever (to Pansy)
> 
> Neville

Pansy chuckled and shook her head. “How did both of us fall in love with complete idiots? Neville should know that I don’t care if he has a job or not!”

Draco smirked over the little stain and Harry’s hand writing in the middle of Neville’s letter. He sighed. “In my opinion, both of them have been planning something together. Who would spend all their free time in Gringotts? And Neville only has to ask for a job and he’ll get ten thousand offered, I’m sure.”

Well, whatever it was these two Gryffindors (or Gryffindor and Gryffindor-turned-Snake) had planned; Pansy and Draco had to wait for a little longer to find out. And Harry was better going to say he was sorry for not being there for the past week for him. But yes, that was the only reason Draco was okay with having to wait. Harry would soon be in his arms again.


	88. Chapter 88

The doorbell sounded and Draco jumped up from the couch almost at the same time as Pansy. However, neither had been fast enough to open the door, as Severus had for some reason already stood there. Had he been waiting as well?

“Good evening, Harry!” Severus greeted the former Gryffindor and when Draco saw him, he looked so happy and alive.

“Good evening to you too, Severus.” He laughed and pointed at the boxes in his hands. “And look what I’ve found on my way.”

Severus laughed now as well and stepped aside, accepting the boxes. “You are always welcome in my home when you bring Asian food! I cannot believe I’ve lived most of my live without knowing these amazing dishes.”

Harry chuckled and closed the door behind him, placing the raincoat on a chair, when he seemed to have felt Draco staring at him. He turned at looked down the hall to where Draco was standing in the open door.

While Severus walked into the kitchen, Harry’s smile widened and he quickly threw off his shoes, basically running down the hallway. “Hi Dray! How are you?”

Some feeling to relieve travelled through Draco’s veins. Had he thought Harry had forgotten him? “Fine” Draco answered and fell into Harry’s arms when he was standing right in front of him. “You haven’t forgotten me!” It was only meant to be a whisper, but Harry must have heard it clearly, since he pulled him closer and placed a kiss on his forehead.

“Why on earth would I ever forget you, Draco? You’re everything to me!”

Pansy frowned. “Then where were you the past week?” She placed her hands at her hips, as if she had been a mother waiting for her child to come home after curfew was over. 

Harry sighed and separated from Draco, holding his hands up. “Guys, are we really having an argument after all we’ve been through? I told you; I was going through my vaults. I wanted to merge as many vaults a possible and I needed to figure out what was important and what wasn’t. Neville was helping me sometimes but that really wasn’t a job for just anyone, since I had to decide what I wanted to do with all these things.”

“And you didn’t think of coming by _once_?” Pansy actually seemed rather annoyed with him.

Even though Draco understood her, he also understood Harry – a little bit at least. Before Harry could say something, Severus called for them to meet in the kitchen again. Well, the Golden Boy sighed and walked to the kitchen.

“Pansy, you don’t have to be so harsh to him! Neville also hasn’t been over for the last week, has he?” Draco asked when they followed him into the kitchen.

“Not the point.” Pansy said it so quietly that Draco had to listen very closely.

Harry waited for Draco to pass and smiled at Pansy then. From the kitchen, Draco had a pretty good view of the two of them and he even caught Severus looking at them interested.

“Listen Pansy, I am hereby officially sorry for not writing, not calling and whatever else I didn’t do that I could have done. I had a lot to work on with my vaults and stuff and the Ministry was really going hard with the ‘do not contact anybody while you’re training’ shit they’re doing right now.” Harry rolled his eyes, also quite annoyed by what had happened.

Pansy huffed. “You could have written once you were out!”

Draco looked over to Severus, who was very quietly separating the take-away into a few meals, while he kept looking to the two people right outside the kitchen. If Draco hadn’t been so interested in what was happening outside, he would have laughed loudly over what was going on there.

Sighing, Harry nodded. “Pansy – we ran away. Literally. I was afraid they were tracking us still. I’m actually surprised that the Ministry hasn’t told you, since you’re supposed to start working there. But neither I nor Neville really wanted to be there. And the process to get out of the Auror Training Program would have taken a month to complete. And I was not going to wait another month to see Draco.” He smiled softly at him and Draco chuckled, already having forgiven him for not having been there more.

“Neville got kicked out of his home when he went with me, because running away from the Aurors isn’t really what you’re supposed to do. So, he’s not really doing all that well. I tried making him come tonight as well, but he kept repeating that he was only going to see you, when he had a job” Harry sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “So that’s what we did with our lives the last week. And that’s only summarizing the first five days.”

Draco laughed and shook his head. “Shouldn’t you have known about not wanting to be an Auror before you went into this training program?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders, while he leaned at the door frame looking into the kitchen. “I thought it was easier to leave. I honestly just looked into it, because Ron said it was going to be fun. I just missed you way too much!” He sighed and looked at Draco again softly. “So, are we good?”

“Absolutely.”

“Pansy?”

Draco’s best friend rolled her eyes, but she grinned now as well. “I guess. But I’m still mad at Neville for not being here.”

“You could come to the Leaky after we look at the apartment if you want. We have a huge room and I think it would do Neville good to see you. He’s really lonely” Harry offered. 

Pansy agreed and they entered the kitchen now as well. Severus had already placed the food on different plates and put it onto the table. Harry sat down next to Draco’s father, Pansy sitting across from their former potion’s teacher and Draco on the opposite side of Harry. Something changed with his boyfriend. He looked different. Almost entirely at peace.

“Since we’re already talking about the apartment, are you okay with looking at it after dinner? You obviously don’t have to, but I thought it would be nice to see it now?” Harry asked when he grabbed himself a dish, looking incredibly hungry.

Draco smiled, happy to see him actually wanting to eat. He looked over to Pansy, who smiled now as well, almost certainly having had the same though he had.

“We’re okay with this. It is getting a little small here, not to… point that out to you, Severus” Draco said apologetically.

Severus laughed. “I know, Draco. I also hadn’t bought this house with the intent of once housing two additional adults here. It was just going to be me.”

Harry grinned levitating a bottle of water onto the table which Severus seemed to have forgotten on the counter. He poured himself a glass of water and looked up at their former potion’s teacher. “I think for one person it’s pretty nice and definitely cozy.”

“Yes, well, I really don’t need a Manor when I’m living there all alone.”

The rest if dinner turned into quite the discussion about how big houses were supposed to be and how many people could theoretically live in Severus’ house without having problems. In the end, Severus ushered them out, saying he wanted to stay there alone and only having visitors during the day. The last part made all of them laugh and Harry decided to show them the flat he had apparently heard off.

*

“Here we are!” Harry said when the keys in the door turned and he opened it, turning on the lights to reveal the apartment behind it.

Draco stepped inside and stopped with wide eyes. They were in the middle of London, yet there was a huge apartment at the top of these buildings. On Draco’s right, there was a big living room with a door to a patio where you could see almost all of London – clearly not but that was what Draco thought.

Harry beckoned them into the apartment and walked straight towards a door on the opposite side of the entrance door. “Here’s the kitchen” he said as they entered. It reminded Draco a little of Remus’ kitchen, since it was just big. And the huge windows as well as another door to the patio gave quite a lot of natural light.

Draco walked towards the patio, opening the doors and stepping out. The fresh evening air, the faint smell of rain made him smile and he leaned over the railing looking down, when Pansy called him back inside again.

Frowning, he turned and followed her voice. She stood next to the kitchen entrance and pointed up the stairs, which led to a second level inside this apartment. “You need to see this, Dray!”

Harry walked out of the kitchen, chuckling. “You guys haven’t even seen everything on the bottom floor!”

“It’s Pansy” Draco shrugged his shoulders and Harry laughed, clearly understanding that Pansy had her own way. And so, Draco walked up the stairs to find two huge rooms with - again - huge windows.

Harry walked in behind them and leaned at the door frame. “This room and the one next to it is supposed to be the office.”

Draco frowned. “And where are the bedrooms?”

Stepping aside from the door, Harry pointed at the opposite side of the living room on floor one. Since it was an open floor, they basically stood on a balcony, looking down into the living room. There were three doors and another stair leading up to the second level. “And if you’re wondering about the bathroom, there are two. One is next to kitchen and one is up here” he pointed to the other side of the stairs towards the patio and there was indeed another door.

Draco walked in and looked at it. It was just as big as everything else. Pansy walked out rather dazed, as if she had just fallen in love with this thing.

Harry smirked. “Do you want to see something awesome?” Without waiting for an answer, he walked around the corner to the other side of the second level and there, above all the bedrooms, was another living room. However, this thing had a glass roof!

“You can see the stars! And you can open this in the summer for fresh air or close it when it gets too hot in here! I’ve fallen in love with this apartment ever since I saw this!” Harry beamed when he looked up again.

Pansy frowned slightly and turned to look at Harry. “Be honest to us, Harry. How have you heard about this apartment?”

Chuckling a little, Harry held up his hands. “Okay, you got me. It’s mine.”

“What happened to your old house?” Draco frowned, unsure of what to think. Harry owned this awesome apartment? They could – theoretically – live here?

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I sold it to Ministry. It still has some of the strongest wards around it and I mean Dumbledore basically made it a safe house for the Order. So now, the Head Auror has decided to keep it a safe house for undercover Aurors. I think Sirius would have been okay with it. And that was the only thing that could get me out of the Auror program. I told them I’d take the house back if they wouldn’t let me and Neville leave.” Harry smirked. “Of course, I couldn’t do that, because I already used all the money they gave me to buy this apartment. But they were scared and actually let us go without any problems.”

Pansy narrowed her eyes in thought. “What do you want to do in the future? I mean, don’t you want to move in with your Gryffindor friends?”

“I don’t know, Pansy. Ever since I woke up when I was eighteen and realized I was a Slytherin… They seem to have gone from a trio to a duo.” Harry sighed. Draco thought he had seen a little sadness in his eyes. However, if that was the case, Harry expertly hid it again, when he smiled at them. “I mean, I am happy for them, but I felt a little alone. And I also wondered whether or not I’m that easily replaceable or forgettable?”

“You’re not” Draco answered and chuckled. “But maybe they had to deal with you being a child and the only way was to move closer together.”

Pansy agreed. “So, let’s talk about the apartment. What would you want from us living here? For rent, I mean.”

Harry chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “How about a happy childhood?”

Draco smirked, though hid it quickly, when Pansy rolled her eyes. “Harry, come on! You can’t just… give us a place to live in! Especially if it’s that amazing and probably expensive!”

“Pansy, I am serious. I was your enemy when you accepted me to Slytherin. I have never known what real love felt like. But when I think back to my… childhood, I think I know what it is. You guys took me just the way I was, even though I’m sure you hated it at first.” Harry just wanted to say something else, when Draco interrupted him quickly.

“What, no! We loved it!”

Laughing loudly, Harry shook his head, pulling his boyfriend closer. “I have never known love until I met you. And I’m so thankful and happy about being able to grow up in this environment. And if I can repay you with a place to live – like you gave me – that’s the least I could do.”

Pansy sighed and held her hands up. “You’ve convinced me, Harry. But have one more question…”

“Yes, Neville can move in here as well, Pans. If he wants to, that is.”

Draco burst out laughing over Pansy’s surprised look, since she had either not believed that Harry would be so easily overruled, or she thought Harry didn’t want him here. And now he just said it as well.

“Should we look at the bedrooms as well? Maybe then we can go and tell Neville to stop freaking out and give him a place to sleep?” Harry offered and Pansy smiled broadly, hugging him as well.

“Thank you, Harry!” she whispered, even though Draco heard it as well.

Harry softly shook his head. “No, thank you. You Slytherins are the real heroes of this story.”


	89. Chapter 89

On Sunday morning, Draco found Harry in the kitchen, cheerfully whistling some tune he didn’t know. Smiling softly, Draco leaned at the doorframe, watching his boyfriend making food. He moved softly to the music in his head, grinning about something and laughing softly.

All of this only made Draco fall more for Harry. And he had thought that was impossible. Over the past six weeks, Neville, Pansy, Draco and Harry had moved into their new apartment and while Neville had raced to find a job he liked – and found one in Diagon Alley, Harry seemed to enjoy living a lazy life with no responsibility. At least for now. And Draco had absolutely nothing against that.

Pansy and Neville now walked to their jobs together every morning, and Draco knew that Hermione sometimes joined them, though the two lovers enjoyed to be with each other in the morning. They were still in contact with everyone else, deciding to hold a monthly brunch for their friends and families. And while Millicent had a longer way now from France, she did show up last time and promised to be there every other month. Which sadly wasn't today.

A faint meow brought Draco back to reality and Harry walked over to the terrace entrance, opening to door. “Good morning to you too, Merlin.”

With quite the elegance, a beautiful Kneazel walked in, jumped up onto the table and sat down. Harry raised his eyebrows at him and chuckled then. “Merlin, didn’t we tell you not to go onto the table? Down!”

Merlin meowed as if to protest, though Harry didn’t accept his own defeat. “Get off the table!”

Finally, with another loud meow, Merlin climbed down the table and tapped behind Harry who walked back to the stove. There, he sat down basically on Harry’s foot. Draco smirked, loving their dynamic extremely. Ever since they had gotten Merlin, he stayed by Harry’s side and nobody could separate them. However, when Harry was too busy, their Kneazel also chose other people to be around, even though Harry was his favorite human.

“Merlin, I need to make breakfast!” Harry grinned down at the Kneazel and quickly petted the little monster. “There’s food in your bowl!”

“Meow!”

Harry sighed. “Yes, there’s some wet food in there and before you ask, no you can’t have the tuna! You already licked half of what’s in there anyways. So eat that first and _then_ you can have the tuna.”

Draco had to hold back his laughter. These two together were like a comedy show, Merlin meowing, Harry pretending to know what their Kneazel said. Well, with his knowledge of how Merlin behaved, he might actually know exactly what he was saying.

And sure enough, Merlin meowed again and walked around Harry, sitting down on his foot again just as he was about to walk away.

“You know if you keep sitting on my foot, I will move your washing day up and have you cleaned today instead of tomorrow. Without magic. Good old scrubbing technique, a lot of shampoo… Do you want that, Merlin?” Harry frowned, looking down at the Kneazel.

“Meow!”

Harry smirked. “Thought so. Now, come here, you old fluff ball!” He picked up the Kneazel and put him on his shoulders, where Merlin, looked down at the eggs with excitement. He seemed to love being so close to Harry. Sometimes, he even chased away Draco, so he could be closer. However, Harry was having none of that and Merlin even accepted that Draco was Harry’s favorite human.

“Don’t just stand there, Dray” Harry brought him back to reality. “If you want you can help me in setting the table.”

Draco chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “I think I might just continue standing here, watching you and Merlin. It’s quite the sight, you know.”

Harry rolled his eyes, smirking. He placed the food under a quick charm and walked over. “Well, I don’t want to be watched all day long, Dray.” He grinned, pressing a kiss in Draco’s lips.

Merlin meowed and was probably about to tap Draco in the middle of his face, when Harry swiftly placed him on the floor. “If you’re not nice to Draco, you can’t stay on my shoulders!”

The Kneazel now looked very disappointed and Draco was sure that had he had the power to do so, he would have pouted. Over this thought, he started laughing and turned back to Harry who beamed at him. “I love you!” Draco couldn’t say anything else. Seeing Harry like that made him realize why he had fallen in love with him in the first place.

“I love you too, you crazy man! I cannot believe my life changed so much with you in it!”

Harry laughed and nodded, pulling him with him, so he would be in the area of the food should anything happen. “I’ve always been in your life, Dray. Just probably not a friendly as I’ve been in the past few… past year actually.”

“Yes, you were a friendly baby” Draco snorted and jumped over Harry running his hands down his sides and he walked backwards until he reached the counter. “You’re positively evil!”

“You know, Pansy tells me I was a happy baby, not friendly.” Harry smirked when he turned back to the stove, finishing brunch.

Draco rolled his eyes. He saw movements in the corner of his eyes and found Neville walking out the bedroom, somehow still sleepy and he paced to the toilet. “Well” he started, turning back to Harry. “Pansy had a soft spot ever since you came into our life a year ago.”

“Don’t you think it might have been because she saw the value of being friends with _The Chosen One_?” Harry asked, when opened the oven and took out the small bread. He quickly cast a spell to keep Merlin away from the interesting toy that he was playing with. Last time, Merlin almost ended up baked when he jumped into the burning hell. Only a quick reaction from basically everyone saved his life.

Before Draco had time to say something, another voice sounded from the kitchen entrance and Merlin quickly meowed and ran towards the new person. His second favorite person.

“Absolutely not!” Pansy shook her head, though she had to release her hands which she had placed at her hips to pet Merlin.

Harry chuckled. “I think it started out as ‘let’s see what kind of privileges there are in being friends with Harry Potter’ and then changed into… friendship.”

Draco frowned slightly and shook his head. “Your own insecurities are shining through here, Harry.” He winked at his boyfriend, who rolled his eyes, but still placed a kiss on Draco’s lips.

Pansy groaned and placed Merlin on the counter next to Draco, where he actually started to push away the Slytherin in order to be with his favorite human. Well, Draco did move and decided to set the table instead.

When he turned back to his boyfriend, he saw him raising his eyebrows at Pansy who pretended to be innocent. “If you’re not careful, Pans, all of what you’re doing is adding to me exploding when you do something like that again. Maybe even me chasing you out of here?”

“You would never do that! We’re too close to each other!” Pansy shook her head.

“If you continue to harass me and Draco, I will sure as hell chase you out of here! Just because Merlin likes me doesn’t mean you can’t use him against me!”

Pansy burst out laughing and shook her head. “If Merlin were a human, Harry, he would be your stalker!”

Draco snorted and laughed while he turned away from them, just when the bell sounded and Pansy jumped up, almost running through the apartment and opening the door. Harry shared an amused look with Draco and he placed the food onto the table, though not before casting an invisibly wall around the table… just in case.

Actually no, Merlin was absolutely going to try and jump onto the table to eat something different than his food. And he probably already knew that Harry had cast such a spell, so he would quite possible try and see if there was a way around it.

“Draco, what is that?” Harry asked and pointed at Draco’s hair.

Frowning, he looked at it and saw… a royal blue strain of hair. He looked at it, puzzled, before he turned to Harry beaming. “That is something you did when you were a baby. You changed my hair into blue and purple and in the end you took it away, but you left one strain. How have you not seen it until now? My hair is like a white sheet!”

Harry shook his head. “It’s not a white sheet, but that strain is that hidden behind all of your beautiful hair, I just… never realized it. Why did you keep it?”

“I don’t know. It reminds me of how happy you were and that even if I made some mistakes… You didn’t see them.”

Harry grabbed his hand and pulled him closer, kissing him softly. “I love you, though. Nothing’s going to change that.”

“I love you too, you complete idiot.” Draco chuckled, placing a soft kiss on the corner of Harry’s mouth just to tease him and he then walked out of the kitchen, feeling Harry close behind him.

At the door stood Ginny and Luna, grinning broadly. Both looked so relaxed and pretty happy as well. Draco smirked over how weird this picture was. If Harry hadn’t changed into a baby and placed into his care, he would have probably never been able to accept Pansy and Neville’s relationship. And he would have never been friends with Luna and Ginny. And under no circumstances would he have been in a relationship with Harry.

Ginny greeted them and pointed down the stairs. “We brought more guests, look!”

Harry frowned and walked out of the apartment, looking down the staircase. “Blaise, you old fool! Come here, mate!” He laughed as Draco saw Blaise walking up the stairs, hugging Harry and they all entered the apartment again.

“One more guest, guys. Only one more.” Blaise grinned, but stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he had set one foot inside their home. He stared at everything wide eyed, as if he wasn’t able to believe what he was seeing here. “You _live_ here? It’s like the inside of a Manor!”

“I told you, you should have come last time” Ginny sniggered and shook her head. Draco grinned. Yes, Blaise hadn't been able to make it, so they had hoped he would come next month. Sadly, almost everyone else had not been able to come by. Not that Draco was complaining much, he loved his appartment and his closest friends, but it would have been nice to have a huge family and friends gathering.

Laughing, Harry shook his head. Draco chuckled, greeting his friend as well and the whole group made their way into the kitchen. As the first person to walk into said room, Draco had a pretty good view over what was happening. Merlin was dangling upside down on the lamp and was just about to let himself fall onto the table to feast on what was standing there.

“I don’t think so” Harry said behind Draco and with some magic rushing through the air, their Kneazel floated through the air and landed on his feet next to the invisible wall. “How did you even get up there? Honestly, I think we have a circus animal here.”

Blaise laughed and held his hand out to Merlin who sniffled at it, before rubbing his head on it. “I heard you had a crazy Kneazel at home. How did you even get to own him?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Oliver” he only said. Blaise smirked, knowing just as well that this shop owner seemed to have a third eye for animals and he clearly knew that this household was the perfect one for this cat.

Harry beckoned their guests to follow him to the table. “Don’t worry, Merlin doesn’t bite. And if he does, it’s usually just me.”

“Wait, you named him Merlin?” Blaise sniggered and shook his head, before sitting down at the table, next to Luna and Pansy.

Before anyone could answer, the fourth resident of this apartment walked into the kitchen and Merlin went to greet his other human with a happy meow.

“Good morning!” Neville said, grabbing their Kneazel and placing him on his lap, as he sat down by the table. Merlin looked curiously onto what was present to him so closely, though Neville expertly kept him away from getting anything.

“Hey love” Pansy leaned over and kissed him.

Meanwhile, Draco turned to Blaise. “Harry named him.” He shrugged as if to show he had been unable to get Harry to change the name.

“Hey!” Harry laughed. “I asked all of you what you thought of the name Merlin! Everyone though it was an amazing name!” He grinned and petted Merlin who tried to escape Neville’s clutches to get to the tuna.

Draco got up and quickly caught the Kneazel before he made it to the fish. “You can stay outside of the kitchen for the next hour, Merlin” he said, placing a wall in front of the kitchen. Well, Merlin had always been able to somehow charge through the magic fields, so maybe they had a nice brunch for about half an hour. In fact, it ended up being quite the enjoyable affair.


	90. Chapter 90

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had another chapter planned as the ending, since I didn't want to end the story with the previous one. But now, that I have written this one I feel as if this is the natural ending. So, enjoy the last chapter of this story and thank you for coming on this ride with me! I’ve enjoyed it and all the comments and kudos. Thank you very much!!!

A rather loud knock on the front door made Draco look up from his book. He paused and looked outside to the terrace, where Harry held their daughter on his hips, feeding the owls. He clearly hadn’t heard whoever was standing in front of the door, too busy with showing their little angel the beauty of animals. Not that he cared much. Ever since adult Harry had entered Oliver's animal shop, he had lost a part of his heart there and Draco hadn't been the only one to notice. Oliver had basically given him a job on the spot.

Today, they weren’t expecting anyone, so Draco yawned and turned back to his book, not interested in the slightest on who would be standing in front of his door. Not before he looked over to the crib next to the table and found their baby boy asleep and breathing deeply. Harry's teddy bear was cuddling with him and Draco just couldn't get enough of any of this. Well, he needed to stop wasting time, as he was supposed to hold a presentation for experts in the medical field of the effect Granian hairs would have on traumatized adults in a week. However, he'd rather spend his time in the living room, next to his beautiful family. The presentation, as well as his potion's job could wait. Sadly, he hadn't had any time to dive back into his story, as another firm knock made him groan and he placed the book down. Well then, time to open the door and tell the idiot in front of it to go the fuck away.

When Draco opened the door, nothing had prepared him for who he was going to find in front of it. Lucius Malfoy. His father of another life.

Draco threw back his shoulders, straightened his posture and raised his head. The last thing he did was neutralizing his expression. He hadn’t done it in a while, so it didn’t work entirely, but he couldn’t care less. Well, the fact that he tried to neutralize anything somehow still proved that he cared - at least a little.

“What are you doing here? How did you even find me?”

Lucius inhaled and nodded. “Well, your mother and…”

“She’s not my mother anymore. In fact, she’s not even my family. And neither are you.” Draco felt his anger slowly rise and he calmed himself quickly. At least his former father couldn’t look inside their apartment and see Draco’s little angel or their baby boy. He was going to fight to death for them. And he knew Harry would do the same.

His former father had no place in their children's life. They already had a granddaddy and it was Severus. And he was the best granddad anyone could have wanted. So there was really no need for someone like Lucius in her life.

Draco raised his eyebrows. “So? What do you want?”

“I think it’s time that we put this silly little argument behind us. I just came out of Azkaban and I find my wife alone on the street without a name, my son gone and…”

He couldn’t stop himself but interrupt again: “I am not your son.” Draco crossed his arms over his chest. “But it’s nice to hear you got out. You didn’t do nearly enough, though.”

Lucius shook his head. “How can you say something like that? I am your…”

“ _Do not_ call yourself my father, Lucius. I have lost my name four years ago. That includes anybody else in this family.” Draco raised his eyebrows again and sighed. “And now, with the utmost respect, I would like you to leave. I’ve enjoyed this day so far. You’re just going to ruin it again.”

His former father shook his head. “I have always been proud of you. Your recent behavior leaves much to be desired, Draco.”

Just when Draco was about to answer, a small, three years old girl appeared between his legs. “Who are you?” she asked. She shook her head and her soft blond hair got out of the pony tail. So, she brushed her hair out of her face, frowning at the stranger.

“Oh no, angel, no, go to your dad!” Draco said and smiled down at her. “I’m almost finished here.”

She smiled and disappeared again. When Draco looked up, he saw his former father looking at him surprised. “I’m a granddad?”

“No.” Draco stated firmly. “You are not a granddad. This isn’t your grandchild, I am not your son and you should leave _right now_!”

Lucius frowned at him and seemingly just wanted to open the door completely and walk by Draco, when the door opened on its own and Harry appeared there. He was sporting ripped jeans and a sleeveless dark green shirt. On his side was their daughter and Draco found a protecting bubble charm around her. Harry had apparently also set up a view block of the crib in the back so Lucius wouldn't be able to see their baby boy.

Harry smirked. “Good evening, Lucius. Long time, no see. Listen, I have no idea how you found us and why on earth you’d think it’s a good idea to ask Draco, _my husband_ , for being your son again when it was the best decision of his life to have another father.” Harry smiled his sweetest, completely fake smile at him and placed their daughter on the floor. “Now, I will be so kind and escort you out of this building. You have nothing to see here and we have nothing to discuss. It will certainly do you right to _forget_ you ever had a son.”

Smiling at Draco, Harry walked out of the door and forced Lucius with him, even though he clearly didn’t want to go. Draco smirked and closed the door, picking up their daughter again.

“Is Daddy coming back?”

With her big blue eyes she looked at Draco almost a little scared as if for some reason she thought that Harry would never return. Draco carefully brushed a blond strain of hair out of her face and rocked from side to side. He walked back to the crib and checked up on their sleeping beauty. Which he still was.

He smiled back at their angel and nodded. “Of course, he just wants to make sure that we’re all safe, you know?”

Nodding, their daughter grinned and pointed at the terrace, where Dag was quite clearly trying to play fight Merlin. And well, the Kneazel was having none of that and ran into the living room, meowing at the two of them. That seemed to have upset his own owl, who was still sitting on a safe place away from Merlin. When Draco had finally gotten his owl from Oliver (and Harry) they had quickly realised that Merlin just liked chaos and Draco's owl needed a quiet place. So, Harry had built a few more roof beams where Draco's owl could sleep and generally stay away from either Merlin or Dag (though she didn't quite manage to get away from the latter). Honestly, Draco was mortified to send his owl anywhere, hoping she would never meet McGonagall. Not after Harry had offered to call the owl Minerva McGonagowl. And no other name seemed to work for her anymore. Not that Draco much cared, since he couldn't stop laughing when Harry had proposed this name.

Chuckling, Draco sat down on the floor, his daughter on his lap and Merlin walking around them, while their daughter petted him softly. Just then the door was opened again and Harry appeared. Draco turned to look at him and saw his husband with a huge grin on his face. It was a loving, handsome grin.

“This is the most wholesome picture I’ve ever had. Where’s Pansy when you need her camera?” Harry asked and closed the door, before Merlin could realize it was open to begin with.

“Daddy!” their daughter called happy and ran towards Harry who picked her up and threw her into the air, while she laughed loudly, stretching her arms towards her dad.

Harry caught her again and spun her around, before throwing her into the air again, while she giggled. Laughing himself, Harry caught her again and placed her on the floor again. Well, whatever Harry thought was a wholesome picture, Draco had his own version. It was what was happening here: Harry playing with their daughter. It never got old. And he had so many memories of these two and their love. He couldn't wait until their baby boy Caellum was able to run and play and Harry just completely forgetting the real world with their children.

Draco chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Theodore has just invented this weird thing where you can print memories in pictures. I’m sure he’ll be happy to have another willing test subject?”

Shaking his head, Harry kneeled down behind Draco, snaking his arms around his waist, while their daughter ran after Merlin, who protested with a loud meow. Draco leaned back at his strong chest, feeling the vibrations of what he said next: “I like my memories in my head. I have so many of them, I couldn’t just take one!”

Their daughter walked back and hugged Harry as well. She beamed at him. “Can I be a happy memory as well, Dad?”

“You are a constant happy memory, Lily!” Harry smiled at the blonde haired girl and nodded. “In fact, I think this whole family is such a memory.”

She smiled broadly and took Harry’s hand, leading him over to Merlin. Draco got up from the floor and sat down on the couch, watching his small family, while checking up on Caellum as well. Lily had gotten hold of a magical mouse toy and made it run across the floor while Merlin raced after it. Harry helped along with some magic, though it was clear that their daughter had quite a lot of magic at her disposal.

That moment, an owl flew into the room and dropped a letter on Draco’s lap. “Thank you, Isaac!” Draco called out while the owl flew out, as if he was in a hurry to get away. Which yes, with Merlin present, all owls should be scared. Dag was the only one who kept him under control. Probably because he felt as if Harry was his human and even though Merlin had tried to fight to be number one... Dag had always won by just a little bit. Draco suspected it was because he had bought him Dag when Harry had been a child and this memory played a huge role in Harry's mind. Anyway, Harry wasn't one to only like one animal and Merlin absolutely did not have to fight, he still liked him a lot.

Draco quickly looked over to Harry and Lily, playing with Merlin, and chuckled. He also turned to see Caellum still sleeping deeply, before opening the letter.

> My darlings!
> 
> The honeymoon is taking longer than expected. Neville decided those two weeks weren’t enough and we’re going to visit a few of his family in France. Which I can do as well, so we’re gone for another two weeks as least. And we're also visiting Mil! I've just heard that she's engaged and I just want to see that man! Apparently, he's from Morroco, I'll tell you more once I've met him.
> 
> I know you only agreed to look after our plants and animals for two weeks, since you two are up to your ears in work. However, maybe if you had a few seconds spare, could you possibly glance at our plants and water them with whatever magical fluids you could find?
> 
> Neville would freak out if that green purple plant in his study would die. Please!
> 
> I’m not sure why I’m begging. That’s so not me. But I just want him to be happy and he loves his plants. That’s all. Well, and I love the roses you guys bought us for the wedding. I hadn’t gotten any time to place them in the garden. Please, Draco! Please, Harry!
> 
> If you want to be Slytherin, I’d be willing to trade you the bear costume I had since Harry was a baby and any other item for your own child. You don’t have to let me know now. Once we’re back I’ll invite all of you to a dinner party. You can tell me your decision there.
> 
> I love you all! Give Lily a hug from me! And Caellum a good night kiss.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Pansy Pandora Longbottom
> 
> PS. In your face, Harry! No longer am I a triple P!

Draco chuckled and shook his head. He leaned over to the small table and started writing a short response. They were definitely going to look after their plants. And Pansy should not worry about trading something. She could use the bear costume and whatever other item she had been talking about herself, seeing as she was pregnant herself.

A shadow leaning over Draco made him look up. Harry stood there, smirking at him, their daughter at his side.

“Everything okay?” he asked and sat down next to Draco, while Lily climbed to his lap.

Draco ruffled through her hair and chuckled over her outraged expression. She tried to put her hair back together, though didn’t quite manage. She hadn't only inherited Draco's hair, but also his constant need to have them at least somewhat looking nice.

“It’s fine. Pansy and Neville are going on an extended honeymoon.”

“Fancy!” Harry nodded impressed. “Why exactly didn’t we do that?”

Laughing, Draco leaned over and kissed him softly. “I’m pretty sure it’s because someone was missing their animals? And Pansy was pregnant and you wanted to be there for every step of the way. They were also moving out and…”

Harry held his hands up and chuckled. “Understood, Draco. Maybe once they’re back we can go on a family holiday? I’d like to see the Black Sea.”

“Is that a black sea? Like the shadow?” Lily asked with big eyes and Harry chuckled and shook his head.

“It’s a name of a huge lake.”

Lily nodded with huge eyes, which made Draco smile. “Hey, look angel: I’m writing a letter to Aunt Pansy and Uncle Neville, do you want to draw something for them?”

“Yes!” she called out and jumped down from Draco’s lap, kneeling at the table and started to draw something with some magical pens. They could bring whatever she drew to life on the paper.

Harry chuckled and put an arm around Draco, pulling him closer. “Are you feeling okay, Dray?”

Sighing happily, Draco snuggled into Harry’s side and placed his head in the crook of Harry’s neck and his knees on his lap. He felt his husband placing another arm around him and made a happy noise, closing his eyes. If anyone had asked, this was his happy place.

Hearing their daughter drawing and singing to herself, feeling Harry so close and smelling his distinct perfume. He felt a kiss on his temple and smiled into Harry’s warm skin.

Sadly, this happiness was cut short by another knock on the door. Draco raised his head and frowned. “If that is Lucius again, I will lose it!”

Harry chuckled, kissed Draco and got up. “I doubt it’s him. I took the memory of where we live. That would be rather smart of him.”

Another knock on the door made Harry quickly open it. There stood Severus. “Good afternoon, Professor Snape. What brings you around here?” Harry joked. “I'm pretty sure Lily isn't supposed to go to Hogwarts for I believe eight years and Caellum is by far roo young to even understand the word 'Hogwarts'.”

“Well then it'll be Official Hogwarts Business!” Severus answered with a glint in his eyes and stepped into the apartment with some authority, all while Harry tried his best to bite back laughter – and did absolutely not manage it at all. “I would like to…”

“Peepaw!” Lily screamed and jumped up, running at Severus, who jumped himself, before laughing and picking up his granddaughter. Draco grinned at that. It was nice of Severus to come by, especially now that his life has gotten so much more complicated - he had been offered the job of headmaster again by the Ministry. The rumors said that the Ministry begged him to accept the position, after McGonagall decided to leave after the summer. Well, the actual story was that the Ministry had about ten other candidates ready, but McGonagall refused to accept anybody else. She had even threatened to keep the position after her death by turning herself into a ghost. Apparently, the Ministry didn't want to be blamed for turning Minerva McGonagall into a ghost, so they gave Severus the position. Pansy had said that int he end, even Kingsley stepped in and outvoted other people on this mess. So at least the Minister stood behind this decision.

Harry closed the door again and smirked. “What was that business?”

Severus rolled his eyes and waved his hand to make Harry understand that he should just forget what he had said. It had been quite clearly a joke. “How are you two doing? Is it not boring, now that Neville and Pansy don’t live here anymore?”

Draco snorted, while he got up to greet his father with a hug. “They haven’t lived here for a while now, Sev. And no, how can it be boring with a very interested girl and a husband like that?”

“Wow, hold on” Harry held up his hands. “What is that supposed to mean?” He laughed and pulled Draco into a hug once he had greeted his father.

Meanwhile, Lily ran to her drawing again, grabbing the paper to go and show Severus. Draco kissed Harry and walked to the kitchen, grabbing some homemade ice tea and walked out to see all his favorite people sitting on the couch. Well, at least about to sit down. Apparently, Caellum had just woken up, as Harry was lifting him out of the crib and onto his arms, smiling down with such fatherly love and tenderness, that Draco had almost let go of the tray of ice tea.

Lily was explaining her drawing and Severus was listening intently, while Harry crossed his legs and leaned back, smiling at Draco, having their baby on his arms. After a while, Lily went back to drawing quietly – while singing to herself.

“Well, Severus. It’s not getting boring around here.” He wanted to say something else, when Draco smirked. “We do have a newborn baby that keeps all of us busy.” Draco grinned and placed the tray on top of the table, a little away from Lily so she could keep drawing. “Even though he's the sweetest, it's still a lot of work.” Severus chuckled and looked over at Caellum who had big eyes, staring at the still unknown person in his life. His huge green eyes matched Harry's very well. And he had definitely gotten his mother's hair, even though Harry's mother had been a redhead as well. Not that Draco minded, he loved every part of his family. It was _his_. Nobody could take it away. As much as he sometimes was afraid that someone would come and take his name, he knew Harry would never give up on him. And he knew he would be looking for him, should anything happen. Harry shook his head. “What I wanted to say, my love” he raised his eyebrows at Draco, who snorted, “is that a few minutes earlier, Lucius Malfoy was here, would you believe that?” Harry said and sighed.

Severus widened his eyes. “He was? I thought he wasn’t able to see this place?”

Draco sat down and poured everyone a glass. “He shouldn’t be able to see it. For some reason, he still did.” He gave Harry the milk for Caellum who by now was clearly just hungry. Harry smiled at him and started to feed their baby boy.

“What did you do?”

Harry chuckled. “I showed him the exit. And I may have taken the memory of where exactly to find us. He thought Lily was his granddaughter.”

Severus shook his head disapprovingly and was just about to say something, when Merlin jumped onto his lap and meowed right into his face.

“Merlin!” Harry laughed and with a wave of wandless and actually motionless magic, the Kneazel floated over onto his own lap. “What is your wish? You already had things to eat, today.”

As if what happened was something the Kneazel had wanted, he purred and walked in a circle, before laying down, stretching his legs and apparently falling asleep on Harry’s lap. Draco always loved to see his husband like that. With his children, surrounded by animals. That showed him what Harry really was: He was a family man through and through.

“He said Narcissa was on the streets. Did you know? It’s been four years already!” Draco shook his head, unable to believe that his former mother who for his entire life had shown incredible strength and resourcefulness to get whatever she wanted, hadn’t gotten back on her feet.

Severus huffed. “I had no idea. Though in all honesty, I hadn’t talked to either of them.”

Harry chuckled. “I mean, if Lucius wants to give Narcissa her name back, he just has to marry her again. It shouldn’t be our problem.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“You can do that?” Draco wondered and Harry nodded.

“It says a lot about Lucius Malfoy if he doesn’t get his wife back. He’s been out for I believe nine months.”

Severus sighed and smiled at Lily who showed him her drawing again. “Well, luckily, you don’t have to think about them again. You have real family members. And a real angel, if I may say so.” He chuckled and Harry grinned, winking at Draco.

Before he could say anything however, another knock could be heard. Harry frowned “What is going on today? It's like everyone wants a piece of us today!”

Draco nodded, still intensely hoping that it wasn't his former father in front of the door who would have found them again. For some reason, he would have actually believed that Lucius was smart enough to find them again, even though he knew Harry was an incredibly powerful wizard and that memory was clearly gone. Lucius still gave him nightmares. And how Narcissa had taken his name, was one of the biggest topics of sleepless nights. Luckily, for these he had Harry close and this man didn't care to go sleepless for a night just to cuddle and talk. He really was Draco's dream man and knight in shining armor.

When he opened the door, he found two guests there he had never expected: Hermione and Ron Weasley.

“'Mione! Ron! Come in, come in!” Harry called from the sofa and grinned broadly, when they entered. Draco smiled at them as well, even though he was still shocked to see them. They were gone from Harry's life for almost the past two years. Not even on Christmasses had they seen each other, even though Draco had made sure to invite them even though Harry seemed to have lost hope.

When they saw the little family, Hermione smiled sheepishly. “We won't be here for long, sorry for the intrusion.”

Harry chuckled and Draco walked over, taking Caellum into his own arms and waking up Merlin who growled, but still jumped from Harry's lap - directly into Caellum's crib. Smirking, Harry got up, smiled at Draco and walked over to his friends. “Nonsense. I'm happy to see you. You already know Lily” he smiled at their angel who looked at Harry when he mentioned her name, but was back to explaining her drawing to Severus the second after. “And this is Caellum, he's two months old.”

Draco smiled as he saw Hermione widening her eyes and basically melting away. She walked - almost snuck - closer and smiled at Draco, before looking at the baby boy. Caellum looked at her with big eyes, before making an 'ooh' sound and smiling back at her. He was almost beaming and it reminded Draco so much of when Harry had been a baby and beaming at him.

“If he's not too tired, he can do quite a lot.” Draco explained, realizing that he did sound like a very proud father, but he didn't care. Caellum was such a fast learner and he wanted to do everything that Lily already could. And well, Lily was a very patient teacher, helping him with everything. Their dynamic was so cute and sweet that sometimes Draco just liked to watch their children.

Hermione smiled at him and nodded. “Ginny told us she couldn't wait to go back onto the field and fight dirty, since apparently Harry didn't want her to go out to play Quidditch?” she grinned at her friend, who shrugged his shoulders.

“Why am I the bad guy here? Literally all her team mates and her wife and her trainer, mainly Luna and Blaise, told her not to play while she was pregnant. I was one of twenty. And she didn't even listen to me!” He laughed and Draso smirked, remembering the hell that had broken lose once at their monthly brunch with friends when Molly had floo'd over just to chew out her daughter on playing while being pregnant. It had been almost like watching a boxing match, with mother and daughter fighting and talking. In the end, Molly had clearly won, since everyone had been backing her. Not that Ginny had minded much in the end. Caellum had not been an easy pregnancy, most likely due to his strong magical abilities and by month four, Ginny and Luna had moved into the appartment as well, just so there was always someone here to help them. In a way, it had been exactly what had happened with Pansy, though she had moved out of the appartment half way through Lily's pregnancy.

Ron smiled at them and placed an arm around Harry, as if they had been old friends, which in a way they were. Draco watched his husband closely and luckily found no sign of stress. So, even though Ron and Hermione hadn't been in his life for two years, he was fine with them just marching into their life again. Before he could say or even ask anything, Ron already started talking. “I'm sorry we haven't been in contact much. Listen, we just came over for... let's say an information. I had no idea you've asked friends to have your babies.”

Harry frowned. “Well, technically, they're not _their_ babies anymore, since we adopted them almost immediately.”

Hermione widened her eyes and looked at Draco “Blood adoption on babies? That has to hurt!”

“No, it's a magical adoption” Draco calmed her down and smiled. “Since one of us is the actual father of the child, we can just magically adopt them and they then might get some of the other's traits as well and might lose some of the mother's DNA.” He motioned at Lily and smirked. “I'm still waiting for her to get untameable hair like Harry.”

While Hermione frowned, Draco saw his husband roll his eyes and Ron had some serious trouble hiding his smirk. Looking over to his father, he could see Severus still concentrading on what Lily was saying, but his smirk was proof that he had heard what Draco had said.

“I just...” Hermione smiled and had some quite visible trouble saying something, before she exhaled and looked at Draco and then at Harry. “I just wanted to say that if you maybe wanted more children... I'd like you to know that you could ask me to help you out.”

It sounded just slightly awkward, but maybe that was because Hermione had no idea how to offer her help or maybe she thought it was weird talking about helping them in having and birthing their baby. Whatever it was, it came off as slightly embarrassed.

Harry smiled at her. “Thank you, 'Mione. You don't have to, you know that, right?”

“Of course, I do!” She seemed almost outraged. Almost. “I just want to be able to help you with your family. And I'm really sorry we didn't have time to visit more often.”

Ron sighed heavily and nodded. “You had the right idea, running away from the Aurors, mate. I haven't had a quiet weekend for months and the last two years I had to work on Christmas. What kind of place is that, where you have to work on Christmas?!”

Draco caught Harry's amused look, which he quickly hid, before he agreed with Ron. Well, Harry also went to work on Christmas - feeding the animals was important every day. Just because it was Christmas didn't mean that the owls could suddenly live for a day without food. Well, last year, Draco and Lily had both accompanied Harry and they had even played with the owls and Kneazels there, just so they didn't have to feel lonely. Lily had really enjoyed it.

“Thank you, Hermione” Draco said and smiled. “It would be a little bit too close to Caellum, I'd say.” He looked over to Harry who nodded. “But once he's older we could meet and talk it through again?”

“Just make sure to give the baby Draco's main DNA” Severus chimed up from the sofa. When Harry looked at him questioning, he shrugged his shoulders. “If you have a smart mother, you should help the genes, not disable them.”

“Hey!” Harry called out, but couldn't bite back his laughter, which was quickly followed by Draco's and Ron's and then everyone else's. Draco placed a tired out Caellum back into the crib and accio'd two more glasses.

He motioned their guests to sit down and gave everyone a glass of their ice tea. Harry sat down next to him and Lily climbed on his lap as soon as Harry had sat down, grinning at her dad. Draco gave his husband a glass and leaned back into his hug, while Lily started telling a story about their last holiday in France. Ron and Hermione listened carefully and Severus even asked for a few more details, while Harry put his arm around Draco's shoulder's pulling him closer as well.

“I love you, Draco.”

“I love you too, bear.”


End file.
